My Love's
by KatPeeta23
Summary: This is the sequel to 'My Love'. Katniss and Peeta's family grows and love grows stronger.
1. Chapter 1

**(Yes I know I already did the family reunion but I wanted to do it again.)**

I sigh, relived. For the first time in two weeks, I wake up not feeling nauseous at all. At first, Mom and Allison thought I was pregnant, but I'm not. Peeta was right, I caught a bug. I peel the covers off me and get up, making my way to the bathroom. I take a shower, and brush my teeth, then I wrap myself in a fluffy white towel and walk back into my husband and I's room. I pull on a beige bra and matching panties and open the balcony doors that lead out to the pool and see it's hot out today; as always. There is always heat and humidity in Delray Beach, Florida.

I pull on tight blue jean shorts and a white skintight tank top. I look at the clock and see it's ten. I can hear Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the TV downstairs and I hear my two year old, Noah Jackson Mellark's laughter. I hear the sink in the kitchen and smell bacon and eggs.

Mm, bacon and eggs, maybe I can keep it down. I haven't stepped a foot out of this room in two weeks. Peeta refused to let me. I of course went to the bathroom, but that's attached to Peeta and I's room. Peeta won't let Noah in to see me, either. I walk out of the room and downstairs.

"MOMMY!" Noah jumps up when he sees me and runs right into my arms. "I've missed you Mommy!" he says. I smile.

"I've missed you too." I tell my son.

"You should be in bed." Peeta says, concerned.

"I feel much better Peeta; I don't want to be closed in the room anymore." I reply. "And I didn't throw up." I add.

He hesitates, and then nods. "Alright, It's been lonely without you anyways." He says.

"Yeah Mommy!" Noah agrees.

"How about you go and watch mickey?" I set Noah down.

"Okay!" he runs towards the couch and trips. He starts crying, but I don't act because it's fake crying. He rises to his feet and crawls up onto the couch, plopping down on it, no longer faking crying. I roll my eyes and look to Peeta, biting my lip. He opens his arms and I walk into them, sighing happily in his chest.

Someone knocks on the door, and I sigh, mentally cursing whoever it is there. Noah shoots past us and rips the front door open. "Grandma!" Noah jumps into my mother's arms.

"Feeling better honey?" Mom invites herself inside.

"Yes." I reply.

"You shouldn't be letting him answer the door like that." Mom warns. I sigh quietly.

That is the only thing that drives me crazy about my mother. She tells me how to raise my child. I say nothing. "I'm hungry." Noah sits down on the floor.

"Breakfast will be done soon, son." Peeta releases me and disappears into the kitchen.

"Well I came over to check on you and to let you know that on Saturday we're having a family reunion." She says.

"A family reunion?" I repeat confused. "That's for the people you haven't seen or have never met to like come and hang out…what's the point of that when all of us live in the area and we see each other all the time?" I ask.

"Oh honey, there is so many more with our DNA that you've never even heard of. There's little kids Noah's age and there's girls your age and you have tons of cousins and aunts and uncles." She says.

"Um…do I have to go?" I ask.

"Of course you have to go! Finnick and Annie and Johanna'll be there and Peeta and Noah are _obviously _coming because they're part of our family. There are a lot of people waiting to meet you and Prim."

"Where is this place at?" I ask.

"Fort Desoto State Park." She says.

"That's three hours away." I say disapprovingly. Peeta comes out and leans against the doorframe of the kitchen.

"And you guys have to bake something. Don't go to the store and just buy something." Mom shoots me a look.

"Oh, that won't be a problem." I say. "Not when you're married to a baker." I look at Peeta innocently and he laughs. Mom smiles.

"Alright, well I'm in the middle of errands-"

"Me come too, Grandma?" Noah asks.

"Can I bring him with me?" she asks.

"Can I have a slumber party at Grandma's?" Noah asks.

I miss my little boy. I've hardly seen him. "You can't invite yourself over. Apologize."

His eyes widen, "Sorry grandma." Noah mumbles.

"I don't mind if he sleeps over." Mom says.

"Please Mommy and Daddy?" Noah begs.

"He hasn't even had breakfast." I say quietly.

"Oh, I can wait. I mean, he doesn't have to." Mom says. "I'm not in charge."

I look to Peeta and he looks at me. Silently, he says _I think it's fine_ with his eyes and I give a small nod. "Alright, you can sleep over grandma's." I say.

"Yay!" Noah claps his hands excitedly.

"Come on, lets go pack your things."

…a…

The second my mother's car disappears, after we've had breakfast, which is staying down, I'm pushed against the wall.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Peeta whispers, his hands slipping under my shirt to rest on my hips. "We have not had a single night alone since Noah was…born." He says. "Although we were separated for most of the time, but still," He leans closer to me.

It's already Thursday. "Your not wrong." I breathe.

"So…lets make the most of it."

….a…..

Before I know it, it's Friday and Peeta and I spent the entire day yesterday in bed and doing inappropriate things in every single room but our sons. I'm running errands to give Peeta a break because for the last two weeks he's been taking care of me and watching Noah. I walk up my mother's driveway and knock on the door and then just walk right in the house.

"Mamma!" Noah runs into my arms, his little backpack with his things on. He's bathed and eaten and dressed and he's fully ready for me to pick him up.

"Hi honey," I smile. "Mom?" I call.

"In the kitchen!" she says. I turn down the hall that leads to the kitchen and walk in. She's cooking and I know it's for tomorrow. I eye the cookie batter and when she looks away, I steal some and hand a bit to Noah and take the rest for me. I press my finger to my lips and he grins happily and mimics the movement.

"Baking for tomorrow?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. "What do you think about camping?" she asks.

"Mom, I grew up in the dead country in Kentucky. I don't mind camping in the slightest." I reply. "Why?" I ask.

"Well everyone wants to camp…" she trails off.

"They have campgrounds?" I ask.

"Yeah, they do." she says.

"Well then let's camp." I reply.

"Okay," she smiles.

"But let me call Peeta to make sure it's okay." I grab the house phone and dial Peeta.

"Hello?" he mumbles.

"Did I wake you up?" I ask.

"Yeah but it's fine. What's the matter?" he asks.

"Well my mom said everyone wants to camp tomorrow…do you want to?" I ask.

"I miss camping." I hear the smile in his voice. "Let's do it. We just don't have any camp stuff."

"I'll add that to the errands."

"That Daddy?" Noah takes the phone right from my hand. "Hi Daddy!" he says. "What doing?" he grins. "Me too! Be bye!" he hangs up.

"He said yes." I tell Mom. "I'll meet you guys there, I suppose." I put the phone back.

"Alright," she says.

"Bye Grandma!" Noah says.

"Bye honey, give me a kiss." Noah puckers his lips and kisses her right on her lips.

"Bye Mom," I kiss her cheek and hug her with one arm while shifting Noah with the other.

"Bye sweetie, drive safe. Call me when you get home so I know you're okay, okay?: she asks.

"Yeah, I will. Bye." I wave and walk out the front door.

"Where we going Mama?" Noah asks.

"We're going shopping." I reply. I buckle him into his car seat.

I stop at the sports store first and get a tent and camping stuff that I know we need. Noah starts whining about being in the cart. "Me no like cart!" he screams.

"Stop it Noah, right now." I scold.

He keeps complaining at the grocery store and I ignore him, because if I give him what he wants, he's going to expect it.

I've gotten everything for the Peanut Butter Fudge Pie, everything for the Mini Peppermint Cheesecake and I need one for thing for the Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies and I don't have a clue what it is. It's called raspberry baking chips.

_What the hell is that?_

"Excuse me?" I stop a worker.

"How may I help you?" he smiles.

"What are raspberry baking chips? Sorry, my husband needs them…" his eyes widen and he smiles.

"I'll show you." he says. "It's not an everyday occurrence when the wife is getting food for the husband to cook. The wife is always the one cooking." He says.

"Yeah well I'll burn the house down." I say.

"Oh come on, I'm sure you won't." he says.

"I can't make toast without burning it and I mess up cereal sometimes. I'm physically impaired in the kitchen." I laugh. He hands me a bag of raspberry baking chips.

"But does he do it because he has to?" he asks.

"He does it because he likes it and he loves pampering us."

"Well, that's nice." He says.

"Yeah, well thanks."

I go to the kids Hollister and get Noah a new swimsuit with a red thick stripe that look like it was put on with marker and a thinner one in blue, the red white. I go to adult Hollister and get myself and Peeta a swimsuit and then head home. Peeta comes downstairs when I've got everything on the counter and Noah runs off for his bedroom. We put away the grocers together and I hop on the counter as he starts baking.

It starts to smell incredible in here.

"Holy fuck it smells like sex in here!" Johanna, Annie and Finnick walk into the kitchen.

"Don't touch anything." Peeta warns.

"Feeling better, Brainless?" Johanna asks.

"Much," I reply.

Peeta takes a tray from the oven when the cookies are done. I stare at him and he turns around again and my eyes flicker from him to the cookies.

Then I get an idea, and I hop off the counter, wind my left arm around his neck and pull his lips onto mine. When his eyes shut, I reach over and snag five cookies and stuff them up my shirt before pulling away. "I love you." I kiss him again and sit back on the counter.

"MOMMY!" Noah scream from upstairs. "WHAT SMELLS?"

"Katniss," Peeta turns to me, his eyes narrowed slightly. "What happened to the cookies?" he asks. Jo, Ann and Finn snicker.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Did you steal cookies when you kissed me?" he asks.

"No." I lie. He snickers and shakes his head.

"You're a terrible liar." He says.

"MOMMY!" Noah screams again.

"Come here!" I call. I hear his pitter patter of feet on the stairs and then across the floor and then he walks into the kitchen and looks around.

"Can we eat some?" he asks.

"No Noah, we can have some tomorrow, alright?" Peeta says.

"I was talking to Mommy. You say no to me." he says. I cough, trying to hide my laughter. Noah turns to me. "Can I have some?" he asks.

Peeta is shooting me the _Don't you dare_ look.

"You heard your father. The answer's no." I reply.

His face contorts in anger and then he sits down on the floor and starts to cry. "Aw, just give him one." Annie says.

"No. if we give in then he's going to expect it." Peeta says. I take the cookies I hid up my shirt and put them on the counter and hop off.

"Cut that out." I pull him to his feet. "Crying is not going to get you anywhere. Let's go, it's nap time." He starts crying louder. "Don't touch my cookies." I threaten. Peeta mixes another batch, and I dip my finger in. He smiles but says nothing.

"NO NAP!" Noah thrashes around, kicking and screaming in my arms as I bring him up the stairs and onto his bed.

"It's naptime." I get up and leave the door open and sit down right so I'm right next to the door and I'll know if he's in bed or not.

Right when I'm out of his sight, his screaming stops. I peek my head around the corner and see him on the floor with toys.

"Noah! I said nap! Get in bed or I'm taking all your toys away and they're all mine!" I scold. His bottom lip trembles and he climbs back into bed.

"You tuck me in Mamma please?" he whispers. I sigh and get up and tuck him in to sleep. "We going out fun place tomorrow?" he sticks his thumb in his mouth.

"Yes, we are." I start to get up, but he whimpers and grabs my shirt.

"Stay wif me till I sleepin momma peas." He mumbles.

"Okay, only because you said please." I sit on the floor at his bedside after placing a kiss on his forehead and allow him to hold only my hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well I've got to add a bit of drama, don't I?**

My alarm fills the air at five thirty in the morning. We are to be there at ten and it's three hours and fifty minutes to get there. Still we're going to be there a bit late. Peeta groans loudly. "Babe, shut it off." He sighs.  
"Mmmmm," I moan in a loud whine. He reaches over me for my phone and shuts the alarm off. "I'm tired." I whine.  
"Let's be late." He buries his head in my chest and sighs deeply. "Your boobs are incredible. Like a soft pillow that smells just like you." He mumbles. I laugh quietly and sit up.  
"We have to go. Mother will kill us if we're late." I curl my fingers in his hair.  
"Just one more hour," He plants a kiss on the curve on my breast, and goose bumps rise, causing him to chuckle.  
"No baby, we can't. Besides, I'm really excited." I continue to run my fingers through his hair. Without moving his head, he slides his arms underneath me and pulls, flipping on his side to pull me right up against him.  
"Your boobs are only mine. They're not yours, they're mine." He whispers.  
God I love when he gets possessive. It's so sexy. "Mm hmm,"  
"So I can do whatever I want with them." His hands are starting to slide to the clasp of my bra.  
"Not right now. We can tomorrow baby, right now we have to shower and get our son up and ready."  
"We have to shower." He unclasps my bra and sits up. "Let's go take a shower."  
"Good grief," I mutter, sliding over his bare chest to get off the bed. He kicks the covers off and follows me.

...7...

"Noah honey," I thread my fingers through my sons hair and kiss his forehead. "It's time to get up." His eyes open for just a second and snap shut again.  
"No mama." He mumbles. "Me tired." He rolls onto his stomach and hides his face in his pillow.  
"We're going to a fun place today, remember?" I ask. He sits up.  
"Me forgot." He grins. "I have to go potty."  
He isn't potty trained but we're working on it. "Let's go then." I stand up and reach for his hand. Right when he's on his feet he raises his arms up at me.  
"Up." He says.  
"You can walk, you're a big boy." I take his hand again and let him walk with me to the bathroom.  
He helps me take down his pajama pants and I toss his diaper in the trash and lift him onto the toilet. He pushes his 'pee pee' inside the toilet. He refuses to go standing up just yet. I'm relieved when he does go. It's not the first time, but it's a rare occurrence. "Good boy," I ruffle his hair and help him into another diaper and carry him downstairs. "Daddy, guess what Noah just did?" I ask as I walk into the kitchen.  
"What?" Peeta asks.  
"How about you tell Daddy what you did." I tell Noah. He raises his arms to me again and I give in and pick him up. He yawns loudly and rubs his eyes with the back of his hand.

"I went potty in the potty." He mumbles.

Peeta grins. "You did?" he asks.

He nods and rests his head on my shoulder. I love Noah's skin. It's so soft, and I always rub his back, and he loves it so it works out for the both of us. "We leaving?" Noah asks.

"After we get you dressed and have breakfast." I reply. Peeta opens the refrigerator and starts getting out ingredients. "Let's go get you dressed." I bring Noah upstairs to his bedroom and get out the clothing I laid out for him last night. It is sunset orange bathing suit bottoms with white anchors on it and a white t-shirt. "Come here,"

He gets off his bed and walks over to me, putting his hands on my shoulder to step into his swim trunk. "Arms up." He lifts his arms above his head so I pull his shirt on and his little shoes and sling his bag for today and tonight and tomorrow over my shoulder and bring him downstairs.

We eat quickly, "Let's go." Peeta says.

…..a…..

We pull in at the shelter mom said we were at. "There is no way every single person here is in my family." I say as I shut off the car. Nobody is at the beach yet. The beach is right through the trees. There's so many people that I can't actually find anyone I'm related to that I recognize.

Noah is asleep. Peeta looks surprised. "This'll be interesting." We get out of the car and I get Noah from his seat. He stirs and shifts his head onto my shoulder and that's it. He's completely limp, fast asleep. Peeta gets the food and we leave everything else in the car.

"I'm guessing we should go over there," I nod at the shelter. "And find someone we know."

"Agreed," Peeta takes my free hand and pulls me into the thick crowd. We get stares and people mumbling as we pass. A little kid grabs my leg and pulls me to a stop, and when I look down I see it's my little cousin, Madison.

"Katniss I can't find anybody." She looks scared. Peeta picks her up and takes my hand again and we continue our trek. We set the food on the table and then look around.

"How are we supposed to find anybody?" I ask.

I spot the bronze hair holding hands with the dark hair, standing next to the short brown hair. I start to walk, and move in front of them.

"Someone we fucking know, thank god!" Finn says.

"Let's go to the beach." I speak up.

"Give me my nephew." Prim says behind me.

"Well hello to you too." I turn to face her. She takes Noah from my arms and we move to the beach, which is littered with people, more people. Noah wakes up and Prim sets him down. I take off his shirt and take Annie's sunscreen and coat him in it.

"I go play?" He asks.

"Just a second," Peeta walks off. We wait patiently, and he comes back with Noah's life jacket and puts it on him. "Now you can go play." Madison runs off with him.\

Soon enough, I'm found by mother and she drags us away. I decide to just let Noah play. Nothing bad is going to happen because there are so many people around. She introduces us to a lot of people and I force myself to shake hands and talk, even though words are not my strongpoint. I lose Peeta to some guy that he was hanging out with and Johanna and Annie and Finnick disappear and I'm left with some random people.

"What the hell is that noise?" a girl who is supposedly my cousin Marissa, who is twenty three like me asks. I strain my ears and hear commotion on the beach. People are starting to get quiet. Then people start screaming and a lot of people start crying and running away.

One scream is terrified and filled with obvious pain. I shove people out of my way and I swear to god I almost pass out. Noah is laying in the sand and he's been shot in the arm, and the person with the gun is the only and only Sara Ascot.


	3. Chapter 3

_Should I be scared? I suppose I should be, but I'm not. _

_I'm pissed. _

I may hate her and be terrified of her, of Sara Ascot, but I know what she can't live without, and that's me. Johanna comes up next to me with a knife and I take it from her hand, putting it right over her heart. "Put the gun down or I'll kill myself right now." I threaten. Pain flickers in her eyes and I know she's going to listen to me. I hear someone on the phone with the police.

"Don't." she says.

"Put the gun down all the way over here." I repeat. She hesitates, but tosses the gun in the sand right at my feet.

"Don't kill yourself." She says.

"Why the fuck did you do that?" I hand the weapons to Johanna and rush to Noah.

"Would you please explain how the fuck you know her?" Peeta asks me angrily.

"Her name is Sara Ascot, Peeta." I reply. His hands clench into fists.

Mom appears at my side and ties something around Noah's wound. I lift him up into my arms.

"You have a lot of fucking-" Peeta begins before I hear a gun go off. I whip around and see Johanna, her eyes pitch black, holding onto the gun and knife so tightly that her knuckles are white. Sara drops to the ground, blood pouring from her stomach.

"You have a lot of fucking nerve. You don't fuck with my family." Johanna snarls. She empties the gun of bullets and tosses it into the sand, stuffing her knife in her pocket. Noah falls unconscious.

"Someone needs to call an ambulance!" Mom shouts. I already hear sirens. It takes literally a minute for ambulances and police officers and fire trucks show up. At least ten cops come over to the scene.

"Who killed her?" one asks.

"I did. She shot my cousins kid and she's the same person who took my cousin. You can give me the death penalty, if you'd like. I don't actually care." Johanna says.

"Took?" a cop repeats. He looks at me and his mouth opens and then closes and recognition flickers in his eyes as he looks at Sara. "You're not in trouble." He tells Johanna.

"Alright," she shrugs. Noah is ripped from my arms and I lose it and I almost lunge, but Peeta holds me back and I watch as they insert a needle into his arm. Panic begins to set in.

"What are you putting in him. You can't put that in him. You'll kill him!" Needles. No I can't, no needles. Peeta holds me tighter and Noah is rushed off to the hospital


	4. Chapter 4

"Can you sing?" Noah whimpers. We're home. He got discharged from the hospital after he had to stay the night. Now it's Monday afternoon and my family is here. He's tired and he's scared. I keep running my fingers through his hair. I blame myself for this. It's my fault Noah got shot. His small arm is in a sling. It's my fault Sara got in our lives. "Mommy?" Noah whispers. "Peas?"  
"Okay," I whisper softly.  
_  
__Deep in the meadow, under the willow__  
__A bed of grass, a soft green pillow__  
__Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes__  
__And when you awake, the sun will rise.___

_Here it's safe, here it's warm__  
__Here the daisies guard you from harm__  
__Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true__  
__Here is the place where I love you.___

_Deep in the meadow, hidden far away__  
__A cloak of leaves, A moonbeam ray, Forget your woes and let your troubles lay__  
__And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.___

_Here it's safe, here it's warm__  
__Here the daisies guard you from every harm__  
__Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true__  
__Here is the place where I love you__  
_  
He drifts off to sleep, his hand limply holding onto mine. I bring him up to his bed, and then I go back downstairs and just stare at them, my arms crossed. "What's wrong? Come sit down." Peeta says. I shake my head.  
"I'm sorry." I whisper.  
"For what?" He asks.  
"For messing up the reunion and for getting Noah shot and for bring her into his family..."  
"Katniss, this isn't your fault." Rye speaks up.  
"Yes it is. If I didn't open that store then Dad wouldn't have destroyed it and if I was never born then I wouldn't have sang that song that got me famous. It wouldn't have gotten me noticed and I would have never had to worry about any of this because she wouldn't even know who I Am."  
"Katniss," Peeta stands up and walks over to me. "Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault."  
"Yes it-"  
"No it's not; It's not your fault. The only person whose fault it is; is hers. She did this to you and Noah. She's the one to blame. Not you."

"He's right brainless." Johanna says. I hear a car door outside slam and then footsteps on the porch.

I have a really strong feeling not to open the door. When someone knocks, I stop Peeta. "Something's telling me not to open the door." I walk into the kitchen and peer out the window. Paparazzi; great. I close the blinds, lock the front door and close everyone single blinds and lock everything.

"Who is it?" Peeta asks.

"Paparazzi." I whisper. "I'm fucking tired of this!" I slam my hand down on the table.

"Tired of what?" Peeta sits down next to me, slips his hand under my shirt and rubs my back.

"Of being followed! I hate it here! Anywhere we go, we'll never get any kind of privacy!"

"Yeah they show up at my place sometimes too." Johanna admits.

"I know where we can get privacy." Peeta says. He slips his hand out from my shirt and starts massaging my shoulders.

"Where?" I ask. That feels so good because I've been so stressed so my shoulders are really tense.

"Deep in the country; tons of land; we can move out and go there. They'll never find us, and if they do, they won't bother to come onto our property."

"That's expensive. I'm not rich like you two." Johanna grumbles.

"Well, and this is obviously only okay if Katniss agrees, but if we get a big enough place, we can build another house on the property for you." Peeta suggests.

Johanna shrugs, "I don't want to intrude."

I snort. "Jo, you do that whenever anyways."

"So yes?" Peeta asks.

"I don't have a problem with it." I reply. Peeta stops massaging and starts rubbing my back again. I yawn loudly, breaking the silence. "I'm tired." I mumble. I tuck my feet beneath me and lean against Peeta.

"I wish she'd lean against me like that." Kegan mutters.

**(If you guys want to see what Rye, Graham, Justice and Kegan look like, I'm posting in on my bio.)**

"Find a girlfriend. Peeta isn't about to share." Rye grumbles.

"Peeta isn't allowed to share." I mumble.

"I wouldn't even if I was allowed. You're _mine_, my love." He kisses my head. I yawn again, and drift off to sleep.

…a…

Someone is poking my cheek. "Momma," Noah whispers, "Wakey up."

"Noah, I told you to let your mother sleep." Peeta says.

"I want Mommy." He whispers, his voice cracking when he says 'Mommy'. "I'm scared." He whispers. I force my eyes open. "Mommy I had a mean dream." He whispers. I open my arms and he lies down on top of me, using my head as a pillow. I reach for the remote and turn on the TV and go to Netflix and play Mickey Mouse. Peeta hesitates in the doorway.

"Are you guys hungry for dinner?" he asks. I shake my head and Noah nods. "How about a snack, Noah?" Peeta asks.

"Okay Daddy." He climbs off on top of me and takes Peeta's spot on the bed. I fall back to sleep before Peeta's even walked down the stairs.

…a…

"Katniss honey," Mom whispers, rousing me.

"Hmm?" I mumble.

"Well I don't want you to panic but Peeta took Noah and left to the store and it's storming really, really bad outside, they're not back and Peeta isn't answering the phone." She says. I'm awake in an instant, sitting up and snatching my phone from the nightstand. No texts or messages. "They left like four hours ago." She says. It's ten at night.

"Did they say they were going anywhere else?" I ask, throwing the covers off me and standing up.

"No, Peeta just said 'I'm going to the store for dinner, if Katniss wakes up, let her know please.'"

"That means something's wrong." I walk downstairs. "Peeta never takes more than an hour at the store and he always goes to Publix and that's like three minutes from here."

"Maybe something flooded his engine and he's got no signal like what happened last time to you." Travis walks into the kitchen. "Hey Kat, haven't seen you in a while." He says.

Travis and Allison's boyfriend and Allison is one of my best friends who was my doctor when I was in the hospital for four months after getting kidnapped by Sara Ascot. "I'm going to find them." I say.

"No you're not," Rye laughs. "It's like hail outside. You're not going anywhere."

"Uh, yes I am; you can't stop me." I slide on my flip flops and grab my car keys from the counter.

"Katniss this is a terrible idea." Annie walks into the kitchen. Soon enough, everyone joins, trying to talk me out of it. I roll my eyes and walk out the front door. It's raining so hard that the instant I walk off the porch, I'm drenched and in ankle deep water. I don't have any service on my phone; hence the reason Peeta hasn't contacted anyone. My family is watching in concern from the front door. I get in my car and leave the air and everything off and start it up. I've got a jeep wrangler with high tires, and I should be okay if I avoid the puddles. I slowly pull out of the driveway and head carefully down the street, very cautiously. There is hardly a single car on US nineteen. Most all of the stores are closed. I head in the direction I know that Peeta goes when he goes to the store and see his car on the side of the road and smirk.

He's going to be so pissed at me. He's clearly not paying attention to the road. He's turned around, talking to Noah. I pull up next to him and honk the horn. He looks at me and relief fills his face. He gestures for me to stay in the car as he gets out. He gets Noah from his seat in the back and locks the car doors and then gets, soaked, in my car after buckling Noah in.

"You're crazy." he says.

"You're welcome for picking you up." I shoot him an irritated expression.

He sighs. "I'm sorry."

…..a…

I'm sitting on the back porch the next morning. It's mostly cleared up and it's just sprinkling. Us adults are on the porch and the kids are playing in the pool. I hear the glass sliding doors open and we all look up. I see a girl with strawberry blond hair and freckles. She looks oddly familiar. Peeta looks pissed all the sudden.

I put two and two together when I see the familiar little black dress. If it isn't the family destroying whore, Delly Cartwright.

"Hi Peeta." She smiles sweetly. He says nothing.

"I thought you had a restraining order." I say.

"She does." Peeta shoots me a warning look. Since last night we haven't been getting along too well. I blame the stress we are both under.

"You know there's a doorbell for a reason."

"I'm sorry, do you live here?" she asks. Her smile is so phony.

"Katniss," Peeta warns quietly. I ignore him and stand up.

"I'm sorry, last time I saw you, you were forcing my husband to kiss you because you're a little whore. I'm Katniss, Peeta's wife." She sticks her hand out, and I look at it in disgust.

"I'm Delly Cartwright." She smiles.

"You can drop your hand." I reply. Johanna snickers quietly as her hand falls limply to her side.

"Well I'm not here to see you." she eyes Peeta as if he's a piece of meat and licks her lips. I move so she can't look at him.

"You know we have a doorbell, right?" I ask.

"Well nobody came to the door." she sneers.

"Ah yes, so you walked right in." I nod. She smiles. "Well get the fuck out." I narrow my eyes menacingly at her.

"No." she flicks blond hair over her shoulder like a bitch.

"Yes." I reply.

"If I don't?" she asks.

"Then I force you out." I reply. She laughs.

"I have a black belt." She says strongly.

"Do you think I care?" I ask.

"You will." She steps closer to me. I look back at Noah and see him playing tag in the pool with his little life jacket on and he is paying no attention to me.

"I would _love _to see you try and do something to me." I hiss.

She spins me around so fast that my arms are pinned behind my back. "See? Peeta doesn't want you. he doesn't love you, he loves me." she sounds so proud. I keep my eyes on Noah, and when I'm positive he isn't looking, I send my head back and head-butt her right in the nose. She releases me, and when she turns around, she's got a nosebleed. "Bitch!" she squeaks.

"I told you to get the fuck out." I look back at Noah and then kick her feet out from underneath her. "Just letting you know, if my son wasn't right the fuck here, I'd probably kill you, because I hate you more than I hate anybody in the entire fucking world."

She kicks me in the gut, kicking the wind right out of me. "Shut the fuck up." She snarls. I punch her in the face and grab her by the hair and stand up.

"Stand up." I yank and she yelps. Noah is laughing at something Audrey said. "You lucky I don't rip your disgusting hair out." she stands up and I drag her by the hair to the front door and make sure to give a good yank before shoving her out the door and locking it.

Then I go upstairs and lock myself in Peeta and I's bedroom.

I pick up the guitar and sigh quietly. Is that true?

Does Peeta not want or love me?

Does Peeta want Delly?

PEETA'S POV

I hate Delly for showing up here. Katniss either completely forgot that the balcony doors is open or absolutely doesn't care, because Annie puts up a finger to silence everyone, and all the birds go silent, all the people go silent and the neighbors who have friends over go silent as we hear a guitar and Katniss starts singing.

_You've got a face for a smile you know_

_A shame you waste it when you're breaking me slowly_

_But I've got a world of chances for you_

_I've got a world of chances for you_

_I've got a world of chances, chances that you're burning through_

_I've got a paper and pen_

_I go to write you goodbye and that's when I know_

_I've got a world of chances for you_

_I've got a world of chances for you_

_I've got a world of chances, chances that you're burning through_

_Oh, I'm going my own way, my faith has lost its strength again_

_Oh, it's been too hard to say, we've fallen off the edge again_

_We're at an end, we're at an end_

_Maybe you'll call me someday_

_Hear the operator say the number's no good_

_And that she had a world of chances for you_

_She had a world of chances for you_

_She had a world of chances, chances you were burning through_

_Chances you were burning through, chances you were burning through_

_You've got a face for a smile you know_

She silences and then starts up again. Johanna eyes the ladder in the corner and then quietly sets it up and climbs up as high as she can go and starts recording. Katniss starts a new song. Noah comes out of the water and the other kids join and everyone is quiet, listening.

Her voice is softer and more elegant and beautiful when she's alone because now she knows she has nobody there to judge her.

_Before I fall too fast_

_Kiss me quick, but make it last_

_So I can see how badly this will hurt me_

_When you say goodbye_

_Keep it sweet, keep it slow_

_Let the future pass, and don't let go_

_But tonight I could fall too soon_

_Under this beautiful moonlight_

_But you're so hypnotizing_

_You've got me laughing while I sing, you've got me smiling in my sleep_

_And I can see this unraveling_

_Your love is where I'm falling, but please don't catch me_

_See this heart won't settle down_

_Like a child running scared from a clown_

_I'm terrified of what you do_

_My stomach screams just when I look at you_

_Run far away so I can breathe_

_Even though you're far from suffocating me_

_I can't set my hopes too high_

_'Cause every hello ends with a goodbye_

_But you're so hypnotizing_

_You've got me laughing while I sing, you've got me smiling in my sleep_

_And I can see this unraveling_

_Your love is where I'm falling, but please don't catch me_

_So now you see why I'm scared_

_I can't open up my heart without a care_

_But here I go, it's what I feel_

_And for the first time in my life I know it's real_

_But you're so hypnotizing_

_You've got me laughing while I sing, you've got me smiling in my sleep_

_And I can see this unraveling_

_Your love is where I'm falling so please don't catch me_

_If this is love, please don't break me_

_I'm giving up so just catch me_

She starts right back up. Noah taps my arm and points to his own, which has goose bumps. I smile and ruffle his wet hair.

_I've been sitting here staring at the clock on the wall_

_And I've been laying here praying, praying she won't call_

_It's just another call from home_

_And you'll get it and be gone and I'll be crying_

_And I'll be begging you, baby, beg you not to leave_

_But I'll be left here waiting with my heart on my sleeve_

_Oh, for the next time we'll be here_

_Seems like a million years and I think I'm dying_

_What do I have to do to make you see she can't love you like me?_

_Why don't you stay? I'm down on my knees_

_I'm so tired of being lonely, don't I give you what you need?_

_When she calls you to go, there is one thing you should know_

_We don't have to live this way, baby, why don't you stay? Yeah_

_You keep telling me, baby there will come a time_

_When you will leave her arms and forever be in mine_

_But I don't think that's the truth_

_And I don't like being used and I'm tired of waiting_

_It's too much pain to have to bear to love a man you have to share_

_Why don't you stay? I'm down on my knees_

_I'm so tired of being lonely, don't I give you what you need?_

_When she calls you to go, there is one thing you should know_

_We don't have to live this way, baby, why don't you stay?_

_I can't take it any longer but my will is getting stronger_

_And I think I know just what I have to do_

_I can't waste another minute after all that I've put in it_

_I've given you my best, why does she get the best of you?_

_So next time you find you wanna leave her bed for mine_

_Why don't you stay? I'm up off my knees_

_I'm so tired of being lonely, you can't give me what I need_

_When she begs you not to go, there is one thing you should know_

_I don't have to live this way, baby, why don't you stay? Yeah, oh_

She keeps going, playing a ton of different songs that I know she didn't write.

We all stay completely silent, listening. After probably two hours, she stops. Finnick coughs and then mutters a swear. Slowly, Katniss walks out onto the balcony and she looks like she's on the verge of tears. "Did you guys just hear that?" she whispers.

"What's wrong?" I completely ignore her question.

"Nothing." She's lying. I stand up and make my way upstairs.

"Kat, open the door." I knock without even trying because I know it's locked. I hear the lock click and then she scurries off. I walk into the room just in time to see her shut the balcony doors. She sits down on the bed and pulls a pillow over her head.

"I'm so done." She whispers as I shut the door. "The stress and the media. They exposed where we live, obviously. We have no privacy. I didn't want fame! I would have been perfectly happy on minimum wage in am apartment! I don't want to be known. I want the media to leave me alone! I want to go into the country and ride horses and go canoeing and milk a cow and go in the hayloft and raise cattle and crops!"

"So lets go and do it." I sit down next to her.

"I want to go now." She whimpers. I roll her over onto her stomach and start to massage her.

"We will go when we get a place and we get the house packed. For now, I want you to rest. I want you to sleep. I've got everything here." I kiss her forehead.

"I don't like arguing. The stress turns me into a monster."

"Stress gets to everyone baby." I find a knot almost on her spine, and she lets out a long comfortable sigh as I roll it out.

"I can't think of one bad thing about being married to a baker." She whispers.

I laugh softly. "I'm going to make dinner for our guests." I sweep her hair out of the way of her neck and place a kiss.

…..a…..

Lips are on mine when I wake, and then they drift down my jaw and neck, nipping their way back to my lips. "Mm," I trail my hands up and down his bare chest.

"Everyone went home. Noah's asleep. It's ten at night and you are so _beautiful_." He nuzzles my neck. "But, as much as I love watching you sleep, I had to wake you up because you need to come downstairs with me."

"We can go downstairs later." I dart up and capture his lips with mine.

"What if Noah wakes up?" He pulls away breathlessly.

"Is the door locked?" I ask.

"Yes." He says.

"Then he can just knock. At long as we're quiet."

"Fine," He whispers. He goes to kiss me again, but I put my hand on his chest to stop him.

"Nuh uh, I want the top."

A wide grin spreads across his lips. "Yes ma'am."

…..a…..

"Okay Kat, look." He comes downstairs with his laptop. It's well past midnight but I'm not tired in the slightest and neither is Peeta. "Look at this." He shows me a land that has tall rich green grass with a forest in the background and it's in the hills. "This is in North Carolina." He explains, sitting down next to me. It's a beautiful property.

"Okay, where's the house?" I ask.

"That's just it…there isn't one." He says. I frown. "We can build one." He looks at me. "I want to build one. I found this perfect floor plan for me and you." he says.

"And Johanna?" I narrow my eyes.

"Well this is a 6,000 acre property…" he says. "We can build two houses and let Johanna pick hers. We have plenty of money for it…"

"Let me see the floor plan…" I'm not very convinced. He clicks to the other tab.

"It's five bedrooms, five bathrooms and two half bathrooms. Each room has a bathroom and our room has a huge bathroom and two huge closets. This property-" he clicks back to the property. "Is a river property; The Chattooga River runs right through it. It is in Cashiers, North Carolina. The town has a population of 157." He says.

"That's hardly anybody." I grin.

"Yes, which means we have privacy." He smiles. "There's a covered porch and a guest room downstairs and a two car garage. Here, look." He says, clicking back to the floor plan.

This does look incredibly nice. I like it a lot. "With a river we can go swimming and canoeing."

"Mm hmm." He smiles. I look through the floor plans and find something that says 'estimate building price' and click on it. 487,000.00.

"That's not that bad." I say.

"Yeah, see, it's nice." He says.

"I like it Peeta," I lean against him.

"Enough to live there?" he asks.

"Yes." I click back to the property picture. "Over to the side here, up on this hill we can put crops and we'll have to put a fence to keep out the horses and cows and everything, and then everywhere else is free for the animals. We can hunt back in there," I point to the forest in the background.

"So you want to do it?" he asks hopefully.

"I do if you do." I reply.

"I do." he says. I dig in his pocket for his phone and text Johanna.

Me: _hey Jo it's Kat, are you still up?_

Johanna: _yeah, why? _

Me: _well we found where we're moving…_

Johanna: _really? _

Me: _yeah it's in North Carolina. It's 6k acre property with the Chattooga River going right through it. We're building our house._

Johanna: _shit, it sounds awesome. _

"Tell her to find a floor plan she likes and to text the site." Peeta says.

Me: _find a floor plan you like and text the site. _

Johanna: _uhhh…okay. Any limitations?_

"Any limitations?" I ask Peeta.

"No." he says.

Me: _no_

I set the phone down on the table. I hear Noah crying upstairs and it gets louder and louder and then he walks into the living room. "Momma, Dadda, I had a mean dream." He climbs up onto Peeta's lap.

"What happened?" I ask him softly.

"The mean girl hurt you and Daddy and you guys weren't here no more." He whimpers.

Sara killed us in his nightmare? He's having those kinds of nightmares at two years old?

That isn't healthy. I close the lid to Peeta's laptop and set and Noah climbs over so he's sitting on both of our laps, and he slowly reaches out and places is right hand on my chest, over my heart, and places his left hand on Peeta's chest, over his heart. Peeta and I exchange a look of surprise.

I reach out and rub his back, and he scoots closer to both of us and rests his head on Peeta's shoulder. Soon enough, he's fallen asleep. "That is not healthy for a two year old to be having those dreams." I whisper.

"It's only because of what happened." Peeta sighs.

"But it's not healthy." I repeat.

"Katniss," he sighs. I pick Noah up.

"Don't tell me you don't care. I know you don't but don't say it." I stand up and carry Noah upstairs. I'm not sleeping in the same room as him tonight. Our son got shot and he's having trouble sleeping and it's clear Peeta doesn't give a shit. That upsets me, that it's clear he doesn't care. Our son is obviously having problems and he doesn't seem to care at all.

I shut and lock the door to the guest room and lay Noah down next to me.

I drift off.

…..s…..

"What are we doing?" I demand. I know Peeta wakes early and I purposely got up early so I could talk to him without Noah.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"We keep fighting. I hate fighting. Why didn't you come and her me last night?"

"The door was locked." He says. "And I do care. I care that Noah is having nightmares. I want to do something about it but there isn't a thing we can do about it. We can only comfort him and hope the bad dreams go away."

"I'm sorry for being such a bitch lately."

"It seems that all we do is have sex." He mutters. "I miss you. Your smile and laugh. I miss you being happy."

"Well happy isn't exactly an option for me right now." I snap.

"Why not?" He steps closer to me.

"Because I'm stressed out!" I say loudly. He takes another step closer to me.

"Why can't I help you with the stress?" He asks.

"Because you can't."

"Do you not want me to? Kat, don't shut me out." He takes one step closer and I take one step back.

"I want to not be stressed!" I snap. He takes another step, so I'm pressed against the counter and he is pushed against me. "I don't want..." I trail off. Peeta's my husband, why am I shutting him out? Why won't I let him be with me?

"Whatever I did, I'm sorry I just...I love you and I don't want you unhappy. I'm really sorry. Please forgive me?" He steps back and leans on the other counter to give me space.

"I-I-I," I stutter. He looks like he's about to start crying.

"Do you want me to give you some space?" He asks weakly. Tears are welled in his eyes and I have hardly ever seen him cry.

"Please don't cry." I whisper.

He runs his hands over his eyes and they're rimmed red. Tears fill my eyes then, because I know I'm the one causing his pain. "I just want to love you. I want you to let me in and stop shutting me out. I want you to be happy and I don't want to only have sex. I don't want to just make love, I want to make love last."

"I don't like shutting you out." I whisper, rubbing my wet eyes.

"So stop doing it." He says.

"I don't know how." I whimper.

"Then you just do what I have you do." He says.

"Like what?" I ask.

"Hugs," He opens his arms and I walk right into them.

"Peeta?" I whisper into his bare chest.

"Hmm baby?" he mumbles.

"I love you, too." I whisper


	5. Chapter 5

"I got the mail on my way in." Mom says, dropping the single manila envelope in my lap addressed and Katniss Joy Everdeen Mellark.

"What's that?" Johanna asks.

"I don't know." I rip it open, shifting my legs on Peeta's lap. Noah is on the floor watching cartoons and the family is over. The family is _always _over.

I pull out the long document and it's so long that I almost throw it away but I see a sentence that makes me stop short.

_Dear Katniss Joy Everdeen Mellark, you have been sued for destroying the marriage of Delly Larissa Cartwright and Peeta Ryan Mellark. _

My jaw drops open and anger surges through my veins. "What is it?" Peeta asks.

"Dear Katniss Joy Everdeen Mellark, you have been _sued_ for destroying the marriage of Delly Larissa Cartwright and Peeta Ryan Mellark."

"What?" Peeta takes it out of my hand.

"There is no relationship in the first place! There never was!" Mom exclaims.

Peeta, out loud reads the entire document to everyone. "The court date is June sixth." Peeta says.

"Is this even legal?" I demand.

"Well considering there wasn't a marriage, then no, I'm gonna say it's not legal." Haymitch says. "Get a good lawyer."

I pick up my phone and dial the number I always call when something like this arouses.

"What happened this time?" Plutarch sighs.

"I got sued-"

"What the hell did you do?" he asks.

"I got sued for destroying Peeta and Delly's marriage." I reply.

"What marriage? I thought you're the only person Peeta's ever married." he asks.

"It's nonexistent." I reply. "I got the letter in the mail."

"Read the whole thing to me." he says.

I do, and he stops me multiple times to ask me questions and it takes nearly three hours to go through the entire thing. "Well?" I demand after minutes of silence.

"I'm coming down to Florida. She needed to prove she and Peeta got married and I don't know how she did that because they didn't. Somewhere in there she broke the law. They can't actually sue you in court for this and they definitely can't put this on trial." Plutarch sighs again.

"So what do I do?" I ask.

"Nothing, don't do anything, just stay inside and wait till I get there. When I do, we'll go to the courthouse and get this sorted out. Don't stress about this."

"It's not that easy." I mumble.

"You didn't do anything. You didn't destroy anybody's nonexistent marriage. If anything, you can file a lawsuit against her for sexual harassment, breaking of her restraining order and destroying your marriage."

"Well I don't want to do that." I drop my head onto her knees. "I want everyone to leave me alone." Tears slide down my cheeks. This is ridiculous. Why does she have to do this? Stress is eating me alive right now and I just want to be alone.

"I know it's hard. This will all blow over with due time. Now put Peeta on the phone." He says. I hold the phone out to Peeta.

Why? Why did she have to go and do this? She's sued me a million dollars for destroying a marriage that never even existed?

I can't keep doing this. Peeta hangs up and I'm halfway up before he grabs my hand. "You promised." He reminds me.

I did. After we broke up the hug and moved to the living room, we were laying with each other in silence and I whispered _I promise I'll stop hiding and shutting you out_.

I stare at him. I can't break a promise. His grip tightens and he looks so desperate, so I force myself to sit down again.

…..a…..

I've been sitting at this damn courthouse with Peeta and Plutarch since three in the afternoon and it's almost midnight.

Turns out, Delly stole our marriage files and changed everything that relates to me to her. Now we've been proving it was our marriage. That Delly and Peeta were never married. We're with the judge that would be doing the case anyways. He keeps sighing and shaking his head. "This is completely illegal. And you're saying she has sexually harassed you, Mr. Mellark?" he asks Peeta.

"Yes sir." Peeta says. Noah is with Johanna, Annie and Finnick, who are staying at the house. Finnick announces that the paparazzi came to their house last night, so now we're letting them onto our property in North Carolina.

"This is absolutely insane, this girl is. I'm searching her medical background. She has to have some sort of mental disability or something." He types away on his computer. "She doesn't." he sighs. "Well…I'm obviously dropping this case. Clearly Mrs. Mellark, you have not done anything wrong. There never was a marriage and she's the one destroying things, so she's going to jail for breaking her restraining order, messing with your marriage license and everything and sexual harassment. You guys can leave." He radios a police officer in and starts ordering them to find Delly and take her into custody. Peeta, Plutarch and I get up and head back to the house. Noah is running around, chocolate on his face, three cookies in each hand, screaming, butt naked, laughing. I stare at my son, and then our babysitters.

"_What _did you guys _do_?" Peeta asks.

"He's too cute to say no. We gave him what he wanted. He's on a really high sugar rush."

Noah laughs louder and keeps running in circles. Peeta steps forward and takes the cookies from his dirty hands and tosses them in the garbage can. "HI DADDY AND MOMMY!" Noah screams before running around again.

"Come on, let's go take a bath." Peeta picks Noah up and points at me. "Go relax." He says, and then he disappears upstairs.

A couple minutes later Peeta comes back down with Noah who is ready for bed. He sets him down and he keeps running and screaming.

"So what happened?" Finn asks.

Plutarch excuses himself to his room he is staying in.

We take turns explaining everything. Noah runs into the wall, falls down, gets back up again and keeps running and screaming.

Then, he passes out.

We sit and talk for a while. Finally, I excuse myself to bed when I can hardly keep my eyes open anymore.

I end up falling asleep on the floor.

...9...

"Kitty!" Finn flings a pillow in my face. "Wake up!"

"Go away!" I pull the covers over my face. He rips them off of me.

"Get the fuck up brainless!" Johanna shouts.

"No!" I shout back.

"Come on Mama!" Noah starts jumping on the bed.

"Good move Noah!" Annie praises. I rip back the fitted sheet and crawl underneath it.

Everyone starts laughing at me.

"Kat," Peeta sits down next to me and shakes my shoulder.

I wrap myself in the sheet. Peeta whispers something and Noah jumps off the bed. I feel myself lifted by Peeta. I hear the balcony doors open. Then Peeta tosses me off the balcony. I hit the couch with a thud and then I grab the pillow. Then everyone comes out here. Annie and Noah rip the sheet off, Johanna steals the pillow, and then Peeta picks me up. Just as he tosses me into the water, I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in with me. He comes up, sputtering, shocked. I start laughing hysterically.

"Haha, very funny," He says.

"Swimmy!" Noah jumps into the pool and Peeta grabs him before he can drown. Johanna shrugs and hops in, and then Annie and Finnick join.

"Why did you guys wake me up anyways?" I ask.

"Well…" Peeta trails off. I whip around to face him. "Let's get out of here." He says.

"And go…" I press.

"North Carolina. Let's buy the land and get the houses built."

"Where are we going to stay until then?" I ask.

"In a hotel." He says.

"All of us? In the same hotel room?" I ask.

"Yes." He frowns. "Why?" I bite my lip.

How long does it take to build a house? At _least_ a few months. That means a few months without sex.

That's hell. "Kat, what's wrong?" he asks, snapping me into the present.

"Nothing's wrong." I get out of the pool.

"Lies," He gets out and sets Noah on his feet.

"I'm going to take a shower." I go into the house and he follows me.

"Tell me what's wrong." He blocks the doorway to our bedroom.

"Peeta, let me in." I cross my arms stubbornly.

"No. What's the matter?" he asks.

"How long does it take to build a house?" I ask.

"A few months." He frowns. "Why?"

"A few months in the same room with four others and no privacy," I wait for it to click.

"Oh," he frowns and lets me into the room, shutting the balcony doors. I go into the bathroom and he shuts our bedroom door and follows me. "We can use the shower." He says.  
"But that's not as…" I search for the right word. "Pleasuring,"

"Well then we'll drive deep into the woods and have sex in the car." He says.

"And Noah?" I ask.

"We can go when he's asleep." I reach for the bathroom door.

"Are you staying or going?" I ask. He looks at the door and then me.

"I'll stay." He decides.

"Okay then," I shut the door and he locks it.

"It'll all work out baby," he says as I tug my shirt off. I slide off my shorts.

"Well," I drop my bra to the floor. "Let's just hope they build fast houses." I slide off my panties and put the engagement ring and the wedding ring on the counter. His eyes have gone from their natural blue to pitch black in an instant and he's staring at me as if I'm a piece of meat. I start to feel uncomfortable. "S-stop staring at me like that…" I whisper. His eyes snap up to mine.

"Sorry…" his face goes slightly red. We stare into each other's eyes for a long time and it becomes slightly awkward.

"_Why _is this awkward?" I blurt.

"Because I want you." he blurts. "I…I mean I-I just, I r-really-" I lunge forward and kiss him, both to silence him and to please him. His knees must go weak because he sits down on the floor, taking me with him. His touch makes my insides burn with desire. "Any limitations?" he mumbles through frantic kisses.

"No," I whisper unevenly and breathlessly.

…..a…..

"We watched your kid while you fucked the day away." Johanna says when we go downstairs. Noah is sleeping on the couch.

"We didn't-" I cut Peeta off.

"Thank you."

Peeta sighs and sits down next to me. "Did you ever decide on blueprints?" he asks. Johanna walks away and comes back and drops some papers in his lap. I jog upstairs to print Peeta and I's blueprints and Annie brushes past me to do her's and Finn's.

"Babe?" Peeta calls.

"What?" I shout back.

"Can you get some paper and pencils, please?"

"Okay!" I shout. I get a ton of paper and pencils and everything and go back downstairs and drop everything in his lap. I'm in white shorts and a black flowy shirt with nothing but a pushup underneath.

"Okay, let's take this one by one." Peeta says when everyone is sitting around the coffee table. He's sitting at the head because he is the drawer and painter. "Kat, let's start. Come here baby," he reaches for me and I scoot closer. He sits me right in his lap and everyone crowds behind us. "Is there a single thing in this house that you don't like?" he fingers though the blueprints.

I stare at them for a long time, chewing on my bottom lip. "I don't like that this closet right here, for the coats is so far away from the front door." I point to the coats closet that is right by the guest room. "If it's raining I don't want people tracking mud and water all through the house to the closet."

"Where do you want it?" he asks.

"Well there's stairs right here. Let's put the coats closet under the stairs."

We go at our house for a least four hours, all of us quietly pitching in ideas for the house and what to ass and what not to add. Peeta is silent for the most part, adding quiet things.

"We should put a balcony…" I trace my finger around our bedroom and bathroom. "So we can look outside and make sure something isn't wrong." Everyone starts nodding in agreement and Peeta adds more stuff. When we finalize the house, Noah wakes.

"I'm hungry!" he starts whining.

"Let's take a break." Peeta says. He taps my thighs until I move. He walks into the kitchen for a while and comes back and hands Mac and Cheese to everyone. We all quietly eat, and then Johanna and Annie help me clean up.

Then we go back and take our seats again, me in Peeta's lap and start in on Johanna's house.

About halfway through, I hear the front door open. "We've decided we're coming over." Mom walks into the living room and everyone else begins to join.

They begin to help us too. Someone rings the doorbell. "ME GOTS IT!" Noah scurries past. I work my way out of Peeta's arms and follow him because I don't like him answering the door. the only reason it was allowed the other day was because Peeta and I were standing right there. "Hi!" Noah says with a big grin.

I was right to follow my son.

Because my father stands before me. The man who destroyed my store, was against me and Peeta getting married, who didn't want me to have kids with Peeta.


	6. Chapter 6

"Kitten," Dad whispers. "Before you kick me out, please, just listen." He says, looking me up and down and then looking at Noah.

I pick up my child. I don't exactly trust my father anymore. He doesn't look healthy. He looks hungry. "Why the hell should I listen to you?" I snarl.

"Because I'm your father and I raised you. I just…had some problems. Please listen to me." he begs. He looks starving and he looks exhausted and he really could use a bath.

After a long moment's hesitation, I step aside. "WHO ARE YOU?" Noah demands.

"Who are you?" Dad asks. He smiles a little. He's always loved children.

"Dad?" Prim demands.

"Primmy." Dad says. Mom walks into the room behind Prim and crosses her arms.

"Your breaking your restraining order." Mom says sternly. Peeta walks into the room then and takes Noah from my arms.

"I'M NOAH I'M BETTER THEN YOU!" Noah screams. I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.

Peeta looks my dad up and down and then clears his throat. "Are you hungry?" he asks.

Oh Peeta, always the better man.

Dad's eyes flick from the two rings on my finger, to the ring on Peeta's finger, to Noah's blond hair and gray eyes. "Yes." Dad says.

"Do you want something to eat?" Peeta asks.

"You shouldn't be treating me with respect." Dad says.

"Well…" Peeta trails off.

""Are you hungry, yes or no?" I ask shortly.

"Yes."

"Do you want something to eat yes or no?"

"You shouldn't be-"

"I'm not asking what I should or shouldn't be doing; I'm asking if you want something to eat." I cross my arms.

"Mama getting mad," Noah says. "She's gonna put you in trouble." Noah sticks his hand in his mouth.

"Mama." Dad repeats, looking at me and then Noah again before nodding his head. "Yes, I would like something to eat." He finally says. He eyes Noah. "Your Mama can't put me into trouble."

"Mama put me in trouble when I make her mad." Noah mumbles.

"Yes, but I'm your Mama's Daddy's." Dad says. Noah stares at him.

"Dis your Daddy?" Noah reaches for me. "Mama dis your Daddy?" he asks.

"Yes Noah," I lift him from Peeta's arms and let Peeta disappear into the kitchen. Plutarch left early this morning before I woke. I lead Dad to the table in the kitchen and gesture for him to sit down. Prim and Mom sit down too, and other people with my blood come into the room.

Dad waits until Peeta isn't busy. After Peeta has set a plate of something that makes my mouth water and a glass of milk in front of my father, Dad begins. The Mellark's walk in soon after, and Audrey, who nearly died in the fire my father created, hides behind me. I'm older now, and wiser.

When Dad finishes, he takes a deep breath. "I just want to start by apologizing to all of you, to Jessica and Audrey, to Katniss and Peeta and Lily and Prim; to all of you. I'm sorry for complicating things. I guess…after my mom died, I think a piece of me went with her. I didn't know how to deal with myself. I turned to alcohol. I thought I helped me. I did things to Lily and Prim that I would never have done had I been sober. I was stupid. Then, when Peeta came along and I saw how happy he made you, Katniss, I guess…I guess it kind of pissed me off…"

I clear my throat. "Do me a favor and watch your language."

His eyes flick to Noah and he nods. "Right, sorry." He says. "Anyways…I kind of got worse. I had an overwhelming sense of loath and resentment, not towards you two, but how happy you guys were. I wanted that. I knew you guys would one day be so happy with a great marriage and children and when my mother died; my happy family went with her because I destroyed it. I thought it was impossible for happiness to exist. I destroyed what happiness you guys had. I took everything Katniss, that you worked you're a-you worked so hard to get. I guess I was happy when I got taken into rehab because I really just…the real me just wanted to be normal again. I'm really sorry for destroying everything and I don't actually want you guys to forgive me because it was terrible what I did to all of you. I just want you guys to know I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry." He falls silent.

We stay silent, too, for god knows how long.

Noah is the one that breaks it. "We match!" he says to my father. "Me you and Mommy match!" he points to my eyes, and then his own and then my fathers. I smile, and the most of us do, too.

"Well I forgive you." Peeta says after a long time of silence again. "It's clear you truly are sorry and it's clear you feel horrible. I think it takes a real man to admit he messed up, and a real man to apologize for it." His hands start to slide up and down my arms.

"When is the last time you had a drink?" Mom asks. "Like alcohol?"

"The beer I had before we went to Katniss's store like two…maybe three years ago. I don't miss it, either." He admits.

I know he's serious. I know he really is sorry.

And what kind of person am I, what kind of role model for my child, what kind of daughter am I if I don't forgive him? I stand Noah up and stand up myself, moving in front of my father. I take his hand, and pull him to his feet, and then I hug him like I used to do when I was a little girl. When I had a nightmare, or I missed him.

And he hugs me back the exact same way.

It only lasts a minute before I pull away. "You really need to take a shower." I step back. He laughs quietly.

"Yeah it's been a while…" he trails off.

I look to Peeta and silently ask if Dad can use some clothes and he just barely nods. "Well go take a shower." I reply.

…..a…

"What that?" Dad asks, peering over me, Johanna, Peeta, Annie and Finn's shoulder. He and Mom made up. I got the restraining order lifted and mom has the rings back on and so does dad. And it's only been a few hours.

"Blueprints for the houses we're building." I reply. "Jo, you should get rid of the bathtub in the garage. Nobody is going to be taking a bath in the garage."

"Yeah, get rid of that Mellark." Johanna says to Peeta.

"Can I see them?" Dad asks.

I completely forgot he builds houses for a living.

He sits down on the couch. I hand him the blueprints for Peeta and I's house. He studies them for a long time, silent. "Are the stairs in the foyer going to be spiral?" he asks.

"Yeah…" I trail off. He smiles a little.

"You guys know you can't put storage under a spiral staircase?" he asks.

"You can't?" I ask, my face falling.

"No," he moves on the floor next to Peeta and I. "You guys could put one right here…" he points to the spot against the wall.

And he stays with us and goes though all of it with us, stopping us from doing the things we can't do, suggesting ideas that would never have crossed our minds.

"How long could it take?" I ask.

"Six months each." He says.

"What if we have them building all the houses at the same time?" Peeta asks.

"With the same team split up for a different team for each house?" Dad asks.

"A different team for each house." Peeta replies.

"Oh, that'll take six months too." He says. "When are you guys leaving?"

"We haven't discussed it yet."

"Let's go this weekend." Peeta says.

"We can help you pack." Mom suggests.


	7. Chapter 7

PEETA'S POV

Ever since two days after her Dad came back, Katniss has been very distant and quiet. We've got most of the house packed up now.

"Alright, since everyone is thinking it but nobody is saying it," Johanna brushes sweat off her forehead and stands up straight, turning up to face Katniss. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong?" Katniss giggles.

_Katniss giggles._

Katniss doesn't giggle. "Nothing wrong." She lies.

"You just giggled." Haymitch says.

"N-no I didn't." she stutters. Her eyes flick to me and Noah and she crosses her arms tightly across her chest.

"KATNISS!" Allison comes storming into the living room. She looks around the room. "You're moving?" she asks.

Katniss nods slowly. "Yes." She mumbles.

"Why are you acting so weird? I can tell something's up." She narrows her eyes.

"N-nothing's wrong!" Katniss snaps.

"Well I'm pregnant." Allison crosses her arms.

Katniss's eyes widen and then flick down to Allison's abdomen. Then she bursts out laughing. Laughing so hard that she slides down the wall with tears sliding down her cheeks, "This is just…" she bursts out laughing, even harder. "So good…!"

"It's not funny! Katniss, I'm serious!" Allison snaps.

Katniss lays down on the floor, and I notice how she keeps her stomach from being squished. "This is so funny!"

"Katniss!" Allison grabs her by the shoulders and pins her against the wall. "Stop laughing!"

But she doesn't. I don't think she actually can. Allison looks pissed as she sits back on her heels. After nearly twenty minutes of Katniss laughing, she stops, gasping for air. "Are youo done yet?" Allison snarls.

"You wanna know what's funny?" Katniss smirks.

"What?" Allison snaps.

"I'm pregnant, too."

"What?" I ask.

She starts nodding like crazy. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you guys." She bursts out laughing, again.

Pregnant? Another baby?

We're having another baby?

"What's that mean?" Noah whines.

"It means you're going to have a new brother or sister." I tell my son. His eyes light up like Christmas trees.

"REALLY?" he screams. He starts jumping up and down and then running around in circles and screaming and clapping his hands and laughing hysterically. Everyone breaks into cheers, but Allison just sits on the floor and starts crying.

"Al?" Kat's face flickers with concern.

"I don't know what to do! I know everything about babies and pregnancy but I hate the father!"

"So don't tell him." Katniss frowns. "Is he a dick or something?"

"Yes!" Allison nods.

"What's his name?" Katniss asks.

"Bradley Parsen." Allison mutters.

"Can I call him?" Katniss asks.

Allison dries her tears. "Why?"

"So I can yell at him for being a dick." She replies as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay…" Allison trails off.

"What did he do, though?"

"Well we met in a bar and we had sex and then he said 'your annoying' and then he walked off and the next day I caught him making out with another girl." Allison says.

"Can I tell him he's having a kid?" Katniss asks.

KATNISS'S POV

"I mean…yes…but he drinks and he's probably drunk-"

"Even better," I grin. "I love a good fight." Allison rolls her eyes.

"Well if you two are pregnant then get off the floor!" Peeta shoots forward and pulls both of us off the floor.

"Let's go upstairs." I pull Allison with me and Johanna and Annie follow.

I slam the bedroom door and then lock us in the bathroom. Allison pulls out her phone and dials a number. She puts it on speaker. "Nobody say anything." I whisper.

"Hello?" a gruff voice comes over the phone.

"Is this Bradley Parsen?"

"Yeah," he says. "Who's this?"

I completely ignore his question. "I just wanted to let you know you're a fucking asshole."

"What the fuck? Who the hell is this?"

"Allison's best friend and you're a fucking cunt for getting her pregnant and running off to fuck another girl!" I shout.

"She's pregnant?"

"Yes you asswipe!"

"What? She's seriously pregnant?"

"Yes you fucker." I snarl. "You're a fucking cunt."

"I don't want a kid. She needs to abort."

Allison opens her mouth but I cover it with my hand.

"Fuck you. She's not aborting. You need to fuck off. She's going to have this baby. You don't need to be a part of the baby's life."

"Good because I don't want to. Your sound really fucking hot, what's your name?"

"I'm married with a kid and another one on the way you nasty dog." I hang up on him.


	8. Chapter 8

I didn't realize how fat they can build houses. We've been staying in this hotel room for three months, I'm four months pregnant and so is Allison and we've been on the phone nonstop. It's December and it's snowing and we're at the construction site. Well I'm four months and two weeks, so I'm eighteen weeks.

I'm in mid-sentence with Allison when my phone stops doing anything. I pull it away from my ear to see it's shutting down.

The battery died.

No, this can't be happening.

I fall down in the snow, bury my head in my hands and cry like a baby. "Kat?" Peeta kneels down in front of me. "Baby? Kat honey, what's wrong?" he asks, frantic.

"I-it's dead!" I cry.

"Honey, sweetie, what's dead?" he asks softly. I'm showing enough for people to know I'm pregnant.

"M-m-my phone!" I sob.

"Your phone is dead?" he repeats.

"A-and I can't talk t-to A-A-Alison!"

"Do you want to use my phone?" he rubs my sore back. "Hmm baby?" he asks.

"Please?" I beg.

"Come on honey, get out of the snow." He pulls me to my feet.

"No I'm tired." I start to sit down but he picks me up and sets me in the car and hands me the phone.

"Do you need anything?" he asks softly, his hand trailing up and down my arm. He reaches up with his free hand and wipes my tears. I start nodding like crazy. "What is it?" he asks. I sit up and hug him. He squats next to the car and hugs me back.

"I love you." I kiss him.

"I love you, too." He kisses the tip of my nose and stands up, shutting the door.

I lay back my chair all the way and, instead of calling Allison back like I planned to, I fall asleep.

…a…

Christmas in Kentucky. Right when we moved to North Carolina, everyone moved to Kentucky again.

Now, I lay on Mom and Dad's couch. Noah is playing on the floor. "Mama?" he looks up at me.

"Hmm?" I run my fingers through his blond hair.

"Why are you fat?" he asks.

Peeta steps in before I get pissed. "She's not fat, Noah. Your brother or sister is inside of her and that is what is making this." He rests his hand on my belly.

"When can I meet it?" he whines.

"In five months." Peeta says.

"That's so long away!" Noah whines.

"You're gonna have to give up that couch soon." Peeta says.

"Why?" I ask sharply.

"Because Allison is going to want to sit, too."

"Well oh well." I mumble.

"Can I ask you something?" Peeta asks, lifting my feet up so he can sit down.

"What?" I ask.

"I swear I wasn't going through your stuff but I saw these laying on your suitcase. What are they from?" He drops two pages of sheet music in my lap. I stare at them.

"Oh..." I bite my lip. "These aren't something you have to worry about."

"But what is it? When did you write it? Who are they about?"

"I wrote them when they were broken up, they're about you."

"Oh..." He looks upset.

"Peeta they don't mean anything now. I was angry. Don't be upset."

"Lemme see." Johanna takes the pages from my hands.

We all remain silent for a long time.

Then something clicks and I say, "Morgan."

Everyone looks at me. "What?" Peeta asks.

"I think we should name her Morgan if it's a girl."

"That's beautiful!" Noah says, even though he doesn't understand.

"I'm with my son." Peeta says. "Morgan Grace." He smiles.

"Yes. That's perfect." I smile.

After a long time of silence, Noah lays down between my legs with his head on the small baby bump and I end up falling asleep with Peeta and I's joined hands on my stomach, on the baby bump, too.

...9...

"Momma, stop it!" Noah shouts me awake. Peeta pulled his hand away.

"What?" I groan.

"Stop moving!" He whines.

"I'm not doing anything." I mumble.

But I can feel something. I can feel movement inside of me.

"Liar!" Noah says.

I take his hand and press it to my belly. "See?" I say. "That's the baby. That's not me."

"The baby moved?" Peeta grins.

I nod.

...9...

"Hey, wake up." Allison taps my cheek impatiently.

"No." I roll over.

"Wake up." She taps my cheek again and I swat at her.

"Peeta," I mumble.

"Yeah?" He asks.

"Tell Allison to leave me alone." I cry.

"Allison, leave her alone." Peeta says.

"No." Allison nudges me again.

"Hey Al?" Johanna asks.

"Yeah Jo?" Allison turns to face her.

"Well…what ever happened to Travis?"

Allison scoffs. "Katniss get the fuck out of the way." She's getting angry.

I glare at her for a long time and force myself to my feet. She takes the entire couch and I swear to god I want to hit her.

"Well Travis and I obviously broke up when I had sex with Bradley."

"So you cheated." Annie says, disapproval clear in her tone. I'm with Ann. I don't like cheaters. Allison is an exception.

"Well…" she shrugs.

"I hope you're comfortable." I grumble. Peeta opens his arms and I walk into them.

I find myself having a dangerous craving for Tostitos chips with a hint of lime and nacho cheese sauce and salsa. "Baby?" I ask, looking up at him.

"Hmm?" he asks.

"How much do you love me?" I ask.

"More than I can explain." He narrows his eyes.

"Do you love me enough to go to the store for me?"

He laughs. "Craving again?" he asks. I nod my head.

…..a…

PEETA'S POV

Jesus Christ. I'm in the grocery store getting a bunch of food for Katniss and I'm getting her chocolate and this girl is standing here, loading up on chocolate.

I chuckle dryly and she looks over her shoulder at me and her face gets red. "Sorry…I'm just…I really like chocolate."

"Yeah, my wife…she's pregnant so…" I shrug and go down the list, putting everything in the cart.

"Ah yes, the cravings." She laughs. "I'm loading up because my family I kind of depressed…" she sighs.

"Oh…"

"Yeah, my sister was murdered down in Florida…" she sighs. "She was in love with this girl…she did some crazy things and…the girls friend or cousin or whatever killed her."

"Wow…" I trail off. "Well, I'm sorry." I reply.

She shrugs. "Yeah…" she sighs. "So what's your wife's name?"

"Katniss…"

"Katniss?" she repeats.

Fuck.

"Katniss Mellark?"

"That girl who can sing?" I ask. She nods. "No, no not her, my Katniss is blond." I lie.

"Ah, nice." She nods. "Not many people have that name." she walks away.

Fuck.

I sigh and quickly finish the shopping.

Katniss is there the second I walk in the door and she follows me to the kitchen. Her eyes are shining and wide and she's biting her lip. I laugh and shake my head. She starts listing things, demanding if I got them.

"You are so pussy whipped." Johanna laughs.


	9. Chapter 9

KATNISS'S POV

"So…" Peeta pushes me against the wall of our bedroom. It's April and I'm due on May ninth. "The house is finished. Noah is sleeping. Nobody is here. We're _alone_ for the first time in months."

"Then let's take advantage of our time." I kiss him.

….a….

When I wake up, sunlight is streaming through the window and the house is silent. In exactly one month, our baby will be born.

I sigh, content. I love sleeping naked.

In two days the family will be coming down and staying down until after the baby is born. I waddle my way to the shower and bathe.

PEETA'S POV

Noah and I are outside tossing a ball around. Finnick comes over and joins us. "Hi Uncle Finn!" Noah grins and tosses him the ball.

"Hey sport." Finnick smiles. He's three now, Noah is.

We keep playing catch and Johanna comes over and joins us too, and then after a while, Annie does too.

After another hour, Katniss comes outside and plops down against the house. She doesn't look too happy. "What's wrong Kitty?" Finnick tosses her the ball and she tosses it to Noah.

"My back hurts. Like really, really hurts. And my boobs are killing me."

"Want me to massage them for you?" I tease.

"It's not funny." She flings a rock at me.

"You shouldn't be out here, then." Annie says. Kat shrugs.

"I'm bored."

"I'm gonna call your mom." I tell Kat.

"Why? I'm fine, I just-" she covers her face with her hands and moans in pain. I pull out my phone and call Mrs. Everdeen.

"Hey Peeta." She says.

"Listen…Katniss is having really bad pack pains and her boobs hurt." Katniss starts crying.

"Okay…"

"Like, it's so bad she's crying. What do I do?"

"Put her on bed rest." She says.

"Okay." I reply.

"And ask her if she's having contractions."

"Kat, hon, are you having contractions?" She nods her head. "She said yes."

"Okay, I want you to put her in bed and don't let her get up unless she's going to the bathroom."

"Okay…"

"We'll come early. Tonight or tomorrow; I'm really looking forward to seeing your house." She hangs up.

….a….

KATNISS'S POV

Mom comes into the room a few hours later and the contractions hurt so bad that I think I'm going to die. "Okay honey," Mom sits down. "I just want you to know that due dates are just estimates. It is highly possible that the due date was wrong and your nine months. Considering your state, I am going to say this is exactly what has happened."

I feel a really hard, really strong kick and then I feel warmth run out between my legs. "What's wrong?" Peeta demands.

"I think my water just broke!" I gasp.

Mom pulls the sheets back and starts shouting orders. I'm swept off the bed by Peeta and rushed downstairs. Everything goes hectic. Everyone is arguing about what to do and another contraction comes. I bury my head in Peeta's chest and Noah is crying, clearly not understanding what's going on.

They keep arguing for almost a half an hour and another contraction hits. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" I shout. "Instead of standing here fighting can you guys please do something?"

"Right, yes, she's right. Hospital, get her to the hospital." Mom says.

…m…

"I'm gonna say your seven centimeters." Mom says. I moan loudly in pain and squeeze Peeta's hand.

"I'm scared." I admit after the contractions pass.

"There is nothing to be scared of honey." Mom assures me.

"Well I'm still-" I almost scream when a contraction that hurts more than the worse comes and I'm scared I've broken Peeta's hand. Mom slips her fingers inside of me again.

"Eight centimeters," She pulls out.

"I want to start pushing." I say.

"No way Katniss; the baby will get stuck and you'll kill it and yourself."

"Just two more centimeters," Peeta says.

"I don't want to break your hand." I whine.

"It's fine baby." He soothes.

I do scream this time when another contraction comes that is much longer than the rest.

Once it passes mom checks. "One more,"

The contraction comes again, so quickly that it hardly gave me time to recover from the other one. I scream into the pillow and squeeze Peeta's hand. "Katniss, start pushing." She says.

I don't wait a second to start pushing. It's agonizing and I think I scream. I push and push until Mom says, "Stop!"

I stop pushing and screaming, and a soft wailing fills the room. "Peeta, do you want to cut the umbilical cord?" Mom whispers. Peeta releases me and steps forward, a big cheesy grin on his lips as he picks up our child and cuts the umbilical cord.

"Is it Matthew or Morgan?" I ask breathlessly. Peeta smiles.

"Morgan," he grins. She's screaming like crazy. Mom wraps her in a soft pink blanket and delivers her in my arms. She quickly, so quickly I hardly notice, stiches me up.

Then, before I hardly get to look at her, Mom takes her from my arms again. "Hey!" I protest.

"It's just for me to wash her off, baby." Mom says. Mom rinses Morgan off and her screams increase. Then she wraps her in another pink blanket and hands her back to me. I scoot over to give Peeta room and he sits down next to me. After minutes of bouncing her up and down and patting her butt, she silences and just stares at us.

"She's got your eyes." Peeta whispers. "And your hair. She's beautiful." I smile.

"Mom? Can you go get Noah?"

"Sure," Mom walks away.

"She's going to look exactly like you when she's older."

Her eyes are exactly my color, maybe just a tiny bit lighter. Her hair is in soft waves with my exact color.

I hear the door open and Noah talking loudly. "Shh honey, you have to be quiet." Mom says. Noah, who still has tears sliding down his cheeks, walks up next to me.

He stands on tiptoe and I sit up all the way and open my legs. He crawls up onto the bed and sits down against me. "Momma I thought you were dead." He whimpers.

"Well I'm not. I'm still here." I whisper. "Do you want to hold your sister?" I whisper. He nods excitedly. Mom gets the camera and Peeta positions Noah's arms. "You have to be really gentle. She is really young honey." I sit up even move and lean forward and very carefully place her in his arms, making sure he supports her head.

Mom must be taking a video. "Hi sister," Noah grins. "Daddy, what's her name?"

"Her name is Morgan." Peeta smiles.

"Morgan. Hi." Noah smiles. "Why won't she talk to me?" he demands.

"She can't talk yet. She can't walk or crawl. She can't really do anything yet." I whisper.

"Why not? How does she eat then?"

"She can only suck."

"She sucks her food?" he asks.

"Mm hmm," I shift his arms to hold her more strongly.

"What does she suck from?" he asks.

"She eats from me." I whisper.

"How?"

"She eats from my boobies."

"Can i?" he asks.

"No."

"Why not?" he asks.

"Because you already did,"

"I did?" he asks.

"Yes, you did." I smile. Morgan starts crying and Noah panics. Peeta takes Morgan before he drops her. Mom stops the camera.

"I'll just go and get everyone else." Mom whispers.


	10. Chapter 10

**This is going to be sad….**

**You have been warned.**

I'm not in a good mood. We went home today. Johanna and I got into a fight. Like a really, really bad fight; A fight so bad that she left a few hours ago and she isn't talking to anybody. She isn't at home, either.

Morgan was in for her nap and when I went in to check on her she wasn't there. I went downstairs and she had her and I guess I got really, really pissed off and we were screaming at each other for a good half hour before she left. It's four in the morning now and I've just woken up.

I find myself concerned that I haven't heard Morgan crying. "Baby?" I shake Peeta awake.

"Hmm?" he mumbles.

"Has Morgan woken up?" I whisper.

"Not as far as I know." He mumbles. "Why?"

"It's four in the morning." He sits up and stares at me.

"Well let's go and check on her, then." He stands up and I follow him into the nursery.

And I stare at the empty crib. I start panicking but he remains calm. "Someone probably came and took her." He says.

I nod. I check Noah's room. Empty.

I check every room in the whole house upstairs and find them empty. Peeta and I rush downstairs and see everyone sleeping peacefully.

But Morgan is nowhere to be seen. "Do you think Johanna…" Peeta trails off.

"She wouldn't do that." I shake my head.

"Where's Noah?" he asks. He's starting to get worried.

I flip on the light and see him nestled in Mom's arms. I point to Noah and he nods. "Hey!" I say loudly. Everyone wakes up.

"What?" Rye grumbles.

"Where's Morgan? Do you guys know where she is?" I ask.

"Why would we know where she is?" Dad grumbles. Noah walks over to me and I pick him up.

"She's not upstairs." I say. I'm panicked right now.

"What do you mean she's not upstairs?" Mom sits up.

"I mean she's not here." I check every room downstairs.

"Well she didn't get up and walk off." Mr. Mellark stands up.

"Well she isn't here!" Peeta snaps. I set Noah down and walk outside. It's pouring and I can see footprints in the mud that go out to the street and there's tire tracks in the mud.

"Someone took her." I whisper.

"Katniss, come on Kitty, let's be reasonable." Finnick says.

"There's footprints and there's tire tracks." I cross my arms stubbornly.

"Let's just go and check at Johanna's house." Mom says.

I walk out into the pouring rain and run across the mud and up Johanna's front porch. There's light coming from the living room and I know it's the TV. I knock on the front door and literally two seconds later, she opens the door. She looks like she's been crying. She gives me a long look and steps aside.

"Jo, look, I'm sorry." I whisper.

"Me too." She says.

"Don't get pissed, but do you have Morgan?" I ask.

"No." she says.

"She's gone." I whisper.

"What?" she asks.

"There are tire tracks and she's not in the house. Someone took her."

"Alright, I'll help you look."

….a….

We looked all over the place for her. We asked people, I called the cops, Plutarch got involved, Allison knows.

I don't drag myself into the house out of the pouring rain until midnight the next day.

"Okay," Johanna sits down on the arm of the couch. "Clearly, she's been taken." I look down at my hands and she grabs my right hand for support. "Obviously nobody here did it. We need to think of anyone that would possibly do something like this. Someone that would want to get back at Katniss or Peeta."

"I would say Sara, but she's dead." I wipe tears from my eyes. I'm cold and soaked.

"Well…" Peeta sighs. "Does Sara have a sister?" he asks.

"I don't know."

"Well…remember that time during Christmas when I went to the store?" he asks.

"Yes." I narrow my eyes.

"Well I didn't think anything of it till now, but there was this girl who looked like a younger Sara."

"And?" I prompt.

"Well she was buying chocolate. She said her sister had been murdered. She said her sister was in love with a girl and the girl didn't love her back and that her sister did some stupid things and her cousin murdered her sister." He sighs. "We were talking and she asked why I was at the store and I said I was getting you stuff because you were pregnant. She asked your name and I said Katniss and she asked if it was you and I said no. She said that not many people have that name. Then she left."

"Dear god." I lie down on the arm of the couch and put my arm over my eyes. "So creepy Sara has a sister, clearly, I'm being blamed for the murder of her sister so she took my kid. Who knows what she's doing to her!" The spoons. The needles. The venom. "If I had been killed in that damn closet, none of this would have happened." I mutter.

"Hey!" Peeta shouts. I look up at him in surprise. He doesn't shout, especially not me. "Don't you _ever_ say that!" he's pissed.

"Well it's true!" I shout back. "If I was dead, then Noah and Morgan wouldn't even exist! Noah wouldn't have been shot and Morgan wouldn't have been taken! Don't tell me I'm wrong! I know I'm right!"

"You're not right! The three of you are the only reason I'm happy in life! We're going to find Morgan, you just watch!" he storms past me, and I hear the bedroom door slam.

"I'm with Peeta on this one." Finnick speaks up.

"Me too," Prim sniffs.

I shrug.

He's wrong. They're all wrong.

We sit in silence for two more hours before I drag myself upstairs, Noah fallen asleep with my dad. I know he'll be safe with him. Peeta is lying in his jeans with no shirt on, staring at the ceiling. I don't say anything; I just remain silent as I shut the door.

"You're wrong." He says. "Life would be worse without you. Noah and Morgan can't exist without you. Someone will see the resemblance. She'll be brought home.

"Keep telling yourself that." I mumble. He's got me pinned against the wall in an instant.

"I will keep telling myself that." He hisses.

He's scaring me. I won't lie. "I just don't want to get my hopes up just to find out she's dead or something." I whisper.

He stares at me for a long time. "I know. That's how you work." He releases his gentle grip on me but doesn't move.

"Your scaring me." I whisper. He backs up.

"Sorry." He whispers. I strip off my wet clothes and change into warmer clothes.

"I'm sorry." I whisper. "Don't hate me." He lays down again and I lay down next to him. He slides off his pants and pull me close, as close as he can get without my belly in the way.

"I love you. I don't hate you."

"I love you too." I whisper.


	11. Chapter 11

I keep telling myself she isn't coming back. It's a two weeks later and we have no new news, except that Allison had her baby, a boy. My boobs are aching so badly. They're hard as rock. I sit on the couch with my head in my hands.

"You look like you're in pain." Peeta says. "What's wrong?"

I take his finger and poke my boob. "That's all milk and it hurts so badly." I sigh.

"So pump." Mom says.

"I can do that?" I ask.

"Yes." She says. I'm shut the bedroom in less than a minute, relieved when milk pours out of me and relieving me.

I wish I could let Morgan take it out of me, but she isn't here, and she never will be.

It takes nearly an hour to empty me so much. I put the bottles in the fridge.

"Mommy," Noah asks.

"What?" I look down at him.

"I want to try your milk." He says. "I like milk. I want some Mommy milk." He says.

I laugh for the first time in a week. "Alright," I get a bottle from the fridge and hand it to him. He pulls me into the living room, where everyone is laughing.

"Is this your milk?" he asks.

"Yes." I sit down and he sits on my lap and starts sucking away at the bottle.

He finishes the bottle, walks away and comes back with another bottle and finishes that one, too.

Then he stares at the empty bottle. "Do you have any more?" he asks.

"You don't need any more." I reply.

"PLEASE?" he begs.

"No." I reply.

"Daddy!" Noah whines. "Tell Mommy to give me some milk!"

"There's milk in the fridge."

"I want some." He says. "Some Mommy milk."

"We don't have any more." Peeta says.

"That's not fair!" Noah cries.

"Well I'm sorry." Peeta says.

Someone rings the doorbell. I stand up and move into the foyer and open the front door. "Delly," I hiss. I start to shut the door, but she catches it with her hand.

"Please Katniss, please listen." She begs. I open the door all the way.

"Why the hell should I listen to you?" I snarl.

"Because..." She sighs. "Look, I know you hate me because I'm physco, but _please_ listen." I know everyone in the house is straining to hear.

I narrow my eyes. "You have five minutes." I cross my arms, making it evident I'm not letting her into my house.

I notice the red blotchiness on her cheeks and it's clear she's been crying. Her lip is busted and she has a black eye and looks terrible. "I was walking down the street," she begins. "And I saw this girl. She had like…blondish hair and green eyes…she had a baby with her." She takes a shaky breath. "I love babies and I think they're adorable. This baby though, this baby had a bruise on her cheek and she was screaming and she looked at me so desperately and her eyes were the spitting image of yours. I remembered that your baby was kidnapped. I yelled at her for abusing the kid and she told me that this is none of my concern. I beat the shit out of her and well…she's in the hospital. I took the kid. _Please _tell me this is your daughter." She steps aside and a dirty car seat sits there with a baby who is clearly terrified and cold. She is butt naked and there is a bruise on her side and on her hands are tiny little burns.

But this is definitely my daughter. "Why have you been crying?" I demand.

She stares at me like I have two heads. "Who would do this to an innocent baby? This is terrible and she's scared and I don't know how to feed her and she's cold and I don't have anything to cover her with." I squat down in front of Morgan. Slowly, I reach out and unbuckle her. Right when her skin and my skin connect, she starts screaming.

After a moment's hesitation, I let Delly into the house and into the living room.

I lay Morgan down on my lap.

My hands start trembling, but I force myself to stay calm.

She's so scared that it breaks my heart. She's cold too. I wrap her up in the blanket on the back of the couch and stand up, bouncing her around, her head on my shoulder.

"She needs to calm down so I can take a look." Mom says. Peeta looks pissed off and he looks like he is ready to kill all the Ascots.

Everyone remains silent, just Morgan screaming.

After a good long fifteen minutes, I remember what I did when Noah was crying like this.

_I remember tears streaming down your face_

_When I said, I'll never let you go_

_When all those shadows almost killed your light_

_I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone_

_But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight_

_Just close your eyes_

_The sun is going down_

_You'll be alright_

_No one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light_

_You and I'll be safe and sound_

She's asleep, but I finish the song.

_Don't you dare look out your window darling_

_Everything's on fire_

_The war outside our door keeps raging on_

_Hold on to this lullaby_

_Even when the music's gone, gone_

_Just close your eyes_

_The sun is going down_

_You'll be alright_

_No one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light_

_You and I'll be safe and sound_

_Just close your eyes_

_You'll be alright_

_Come morning light,_

_You and I'll be safe and sound..._

_Oooooo, OoooOooo,_

_Oooooo, OoooOooo,_

_Oooooo, OoooOooo,_

_Oooooo, OoooOooo,_

_Oooooo, OoooOooo,_

_Oooooo, OoooOooo..._

"I would kill for your voice." Delly whispers. "Well I'm going to go…"

"Thank you." I give her a one arm hug. "Seriously, thanks." She just shrugs.

"That's Delly." Peeta says.

She shrugs again, waves, and then she's gone.

I sit back down and let Mom look at her. She strips off her diaper and checks everywhere. "She'll be fine. When the bruises heal she's going to be perfectly fine. I think she just has a bit of separation anxiety. Just…make sure she's either with you or Peeta."

"That won't be a problem." I mumble.

"Can I?" Peeta holds his arms out, and I realize I'm being extremely selfish. I place Morgan in his arms and he disappears upstairs.

When he comes back down, she's in a fresh diaper and clean clothing.

She's awake but she isn't crying. Her tiny hand is closed around Peeta's finger.

"Can I?" Annie asks.

Peeta hands Morgan to Ann. "Give her to Kat when your done. I don't want to hog. I'll go make lunch." Peeta walks away. Annie sits down, and when Morgan look around, she starts screaming.

After a few minutes of struggling, Annie gives up and hands her to me.

Her tiny gray eyes lock with mine, her finger closes around mine and her cries silence.

"What?" Annie sounds upset.

"Sorry Ann." I mumble. Morgan starts crying again and I recognize it as a hunger cry. I grab the blanket she was wrapped in earlier and cover my chest. I move her so she can latch on, and after a pause, she does, and starts sucking away.

After a long time I realize she isn't sucking anymore, and I peek under the blanket and see she's sleeping, still latched on.

I cover myself. "I'm tired." I mumble. Peeta comes in with three bowls, he hands one to Noah and to me.

"You guys can help yourselves." He says. Everyone moves to the kitchen. I lay Morgan down between Peeta and I and eat.

I take my stuff to the kitchen and go and sit back down.

I haven't slept too well in two weeks so I truly am exhausted. "I'm going to go take a nap." I yawn. "Will you be mad if I take her?" I point at Morgan. Peeta shakes his head.

"No. I'm coming up there soon." He says.

"Kitty I know you and Peeta have been through hell and back but can you wait to go upstairs?"

"Sure," I reply, lifting Morgan back to my arms.

"Well Annie and I..." Finnick looks at Annie.

"We're having a baby." Annie finishes.

My eyes widen. I'm just about to reply when the doorbell rings. I put up a finger and walk into the foyer and open the door. A guy with green eyes and brown hair with a cowboy hat stands there. He is extremely buff and Peeta's height, a head higher than me. He has on blue jeans, cowboy boots and nothing covering his sexy body. "Hi, my name is Trace Clearwater." He sticks his hand out.

"Katniss." I shake his hand.

"Well I know this is a real stupid question, but I'm just moving in here and my car broke down. I need someone to jump start it. Can you help me?"

I stare at him. "Jump start?" I repeat.

"Yes ma'am." He says.

"I don't know what that means..." I bite my lip.

He laughs. "Is there anyone else here?" He asks.

"Um...yes. You can come in." I step aside.

He looks down at his muddy boots and steps in the house, wiping them off on the carpet. "Is it alright if I take my boots off? I don't want to track your house up with mud."

His accent is so sexy.

"Sure." I shut the door. He follows me to the living room and Johanna starts choking on her water. I know she likes him. I wait for her to pounce, but she doesn't. Her face goes bright red and she looks away.

This means something. "He needs his car..." I trail off.

"My car broke down and I need to jump start it." He explains. "Katniss here doesn't know what that is."

"I can help you." Peeta stands up and turns to me. "You got things here for a bit?" He asks.

"Yes." I reply.

"Okay." He kisses my forehead. "I'll see you when I get back. I love you."

"I love you too." I reply.

He and Trace Clearwater walk away.

The second the door shuts behind him, Johanna stands up, points to Annie and I and races past us to the stairs. I hesitate for a minute "Noah," I say.

"Yes?" Noah asks.

"Let's go upstairs." I reach for his hand.

"Aw let the little bugger stay downstairs. I need my practice." Finn says.

"If you really want practice..." I hand Morgan to him. She's asleep anyways. "If she starts screaming bring her upstairs."

"You trust me with her?" He asks.

"You're like my brother." I reply simply.

He grins. "That's right." He smiles.

I look at Morgan for a minute and then take Noah's hand and go upstairs. They're standing in the hallway looking around awkwardly, clearly not knowing where to go. I laugh softly and brush past Johanna and walk into Peeta and I's bedroom. Annie shuts the door behind herself and all of us plop down on the bed.

"I need to fuck that guy." Johanna says.

"Johanna, a healthy relationship is not just having sex and-" Annie starts.

"I mean I need to make love with that guy and I need to tell him I love him because...hot damn I need to marry him." I raise my eyebrows. Johanna turns to me. "How'd you know when you loved Peeta?"

I bite my lip. I hate this question. "I don't know...I really just kind of knew...that's how it goes. One second your like 'hey I like this guy' and the next your like 'I love him.'"

"Annie? What about you?" Johanna demands.

"Same as Kat," She sighs.

She sighs loudly.

"I knew I loved Mommy when I ate her milk!" Noah pitches in. The three of us laugh.

"You should ask Peeta." I speak up.

"Hell no, that's awkward as fuck." Johanna says.

I sigh loudly and sit back.

We sit in silence for a long time, so long that Noah falls asleep holding my hand.

Then Peeta walks into the room, eyes the three of us. "I...sorry..." His face gets slightly red.

"Wait. Come here baby." I say. He still hesitates. "Come on. We're not naked." He slowly steps into the room. "Come on baby. Shut the door and come here." I laugh.

"I don't want to intrude..." He looks over his shoulder and them back at me, runs his hand through his hair, bites his lip for a minute and sighs.

Hot damn he's sexy. "Come here!" I beg. "Don't make me get up." He sighs again and does the same thing with running his hand through his hair and biting his lip and them he steps all the way in and shuts the door.

But he just stands there. "Dammit Peeta, come here." I sigh and slowly, he makes his way over to me.

"What's the matter?" He asks.

"Johanna likes Trace."

"Okay..." He trails off and runs his hand over the back of his neck, a bad habit he has when he's nervous.

"She keeps asking how we knew when we loved each other but I don't know."

"Okay...Well I'm no help. I loved you before we were even together." He says.

"But how did you know?" Johanna asks desperately. Peeta lifts me up, sits down where I was just sitting and lowers me onto his lap.

"Well..." He takes my hands in his own. "I remember I was probably ten..." He begins. "Remember when we went to that lake?" He asks Johanna and I. We nod. "Well a few years after we'd been separated, I was sitting at my desk doing my homework. I remember I splashed you, Katniss. You were so upset you started crying."

I snicker. "I called you a bitch and got myself grounded for two weeks."

"Mm hmm," he nods. "We were like...four. I missed you so much. I was sitting at my desk and I remember making you cry and I started crying because I felt bad. Rye came into my room because he and Graham were watching me and he was like 'what's up bro?' And he patted shoulder. I told him 'I'm a terrible person' and he asked for an explanation. I told him about me splashing you and all that and he said, 'awe, Peet's in love!' And Graham came upstairs and Rye retold everything. They started teasing me and then ditched me and went downstairs. Then, that night I was lying in bed and I realized they were right. I did, and still do love you." Johanna takes a deep breath.

"Do you guys believe in love at first sight?"


	12. Chapter 12

"I don't know babe, I just think we're slacking." I walk into the kitchen a week later, burping Morgan.

After three weeks, I'm almost completely back to my normal size and look to be about four months pregnant.

The family went home, so now it's just back to us. "Slacking?" Peeta repeats.

"Yeah…I mean, it's May…we have all this land and we're not doing anything with it."

"Kat, baby, we can't do anything till we put up a fence." He replies.

"So let's put up a fence." I whine.

"Baby, it's not that easy." He explains.

"Why not?" I demand.

"Because it's expensive-"

"We have money." I cut him off.

"And it's time costly-"

"We have tons of time."

"And it's hot outside."

"So we can go swimming in the river."

"And we have a baby, who can't really be-"

"I'll stay inside." I insist. "Please?" I walk into the living room and put Morgan, who is now asleep, in her bouncer. I go back to the kitchen. "Please?" I whine.

"Katniss…" he sighs.

"Please?" I kiss him for a long time. It gets heated quickly, and just as he's about to slip his hands up my shirt, I pull away. "Please?" I ask breathlessly. He leans in to kiss me again but I back up.

"Fine." He says. I walks into the living room and comes back a minute later. "The kids are in bed." He pushes me against the counter.

"We can't have sex." I warn.

"We can make out and touch each other." He leans closer to me.

"Fine, but upstairs."

….a….

The thing that separated us was the doorbell. The front door has been locked for two days and nobody has bothered. "Why now of all times?" I moan into the pillow.

"Let them go." He kisses me again. It rings again, stops, and then the person at the door starts pressing the button repeatedly.

"That's Johanna." I whisper against his lips. He sits up, his eyes on my bare heaving chest.

"Get dressed." He says glumly.

"She can go away. I'm not done with you yet." I look at the crotch in his jeans and lick my lips.

"Kat, just make her go away." He says.

I steal his shirt and place a long kiss on his lips. "Don't move." I storm downstairs and rip the front door open.

I was right about it being Johanna. "Shit, I'm interrupting sex." She sighs.

"Yes." I cross my arms.

"Well I need to talk to you about Trace, but I'll come back." She says.

"Bye." I reply. She walks off the porch and I slam the front door and run back upstairs. I slam and lock the bedroom door and pounce on Peeta. "She's gone."

…..a…

"Babe?" I whisper. Peeta is downstairs at three in the morning. He looks up at me with tired eyes.

"I can't sleep." He admits. I sit next to him on the couch with my knees pulled to my chest.

PEETA'S POV

There's something bothering her.

"I don't want you to build the fence and everything if you don't want to. I want you to take your time." I whisper. "I'm sorry for doing that. I don't want to be the kind of…wife…that makes her husband do whatever she wants. I hate people like that." The moonlight sparkles on her eyes and I see tears slip down her cheeks. "I'm really sorry." She whispers.

"Hey," I sweep my thumbs across her cheeks. She sniffs and looks away. "Kat, baby, I wasn't even upset about that in the first place. I want to do this, but nobody can really help us. You've got the kids and Annie's pregnant. All we have is Finnick and Johanna. It's just going to be hard, that's all."

"I can help, too." She sniffs. "We can put Morgan in the stroller and Noah can play. I can help, Peeta."

"I just don't want you to overwork yourself." I whisper. "You just had a baby honey." I trail my hand up and down her thigh.

"I'll be okay." She insists.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself down there…" I point at her vagina.

"I'm fine." She waves me off. I mean, she's already got the stitches off but she hates, and I mean hates, having sex when she's on her period, and she's still got another week or to till she's off.

I'll just have to settle for her hand and her mouth right now. I yawn quietly.

"Uou should go to bed." She whispers.

"I told you baby, I can't sleep." I mumble. She stands up and extends her hand.

"Please? Come with me?" she begs softly. "Unless you don't want you, I'm not the boss of-" I take her hand and stand up.

"I like when you tell me what to do. I think it's hot." I smack her ass, gently. She gasps and whips around to face me.

She opens and closes her mouth a few times. "I hate my period!" she whispers.

Noah comes downstairs in monkey pajamas and rubs his tired eyes, his hair sticking up all over the place. "Why you and Daddy not sleeping?" he asks tiredly.

"Because Daddy and I were talking." Katniss whispers.

"Can I talk too?" Noah asks.

"No honey, it's really, really late. you should be sleeping. Daddy and I are going to bed."

"Daddy?" Noah asks.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Can you take me to bed?" he walks over to me and lifts his arms.

I gently pick him up and carry him upstairs to his bedroom and tuck him in to bed.

...9...

Peeta and I are driving home from the store, the kids staying with Finn and Ann for a bit. I keep staring at him because I have a really raunchy idea. I scoot close to him. "Can I try something?" I ask.

"Okay." He shrugs.

"Anything?" I ask.

"Okay." He shrugs again.

I scoot even closer and place a kiss on his lips for just a moment. "Just keep driving, okay?" I ask.

"Okay..." He looks confused. I undo the button and the zipper on his pants, and almost immediately, he pulls over. "No. We'll get into a car accident." He says.

"No we won't. Please? You said anything..." I bite my lip.

I just want to blow him while he's driving. "It's too dangerous." He shakes his head repeatedly.

"But you said I could do anything." I remind him.

"I know...I just..."

"If you don't want me to, I won't." I move back.

"No...I just don't want to crash the car." He hesitates.

"If we die we'll both die happy; fair?"

"Fine." He says. I lick my lips and run my hands together.

"Don't touch," I smack the back of his hand when he goes to help me. "Keep driving. We're in the country baby, nobody is going to see your face." I kiss him again and get to work.

...9...

He's being quiet. It's three days later. He and Finnick and Johanna are working on the fencing and I'm watching from the doorway with Morgan.

He'll glance at me and even from here, I can see his face flush.

He doesn't know I ended my period last night. I still want to wait a week because it's still a bit tender down there.

I go back into the house and settle down in bed next to Noah with Morgan on my chest. She's sucking away so I get my book and start to read. I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars. I've just barely started it so I don't really know what happens. I like to do this thing where I get the book and don't read the summary till I finish because I want to be surprised.

I read for hours and hours, only stopping to burp Morgan and to put her to sleep. When she's asleep, I rest her back on my chest and turn to my book again.

Peeta KNOCKS on the door and then sticks his head in. "Kat?" He asks.

"Yeah?" I look at him to see he won't look at me. I sigh quietly.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

I bite the inside if my cheek. "We need to talk." I secure Morgan in my arms and get up. "Can you bring Noah to bed?" I ask. He nods. I brush past him to Morgans room. She stirs in my arms, but when I lay her on her mattress, she stills. When I go back to the bedroom, Peeta's just leaving Noah's room. I reach for his hand, but they're in his pockets.

What, he won't touch me now?

I sigh and push open the door. He brushes past me into the room and I shut the door and lock it. Then I turn to him, lean against the door and cross my arms. He is looking anywhere else but me. "Do you hate me or something?" I ask.

"No." He says.

"But you don't love me."

"Yes I do."

"So you just won't look at me because you don't want to or something?"

"No." He says.

"So you won't although you want to."

"Yes."

"Why won't you? Dammit, you won't even let me touch you."

"It's not that..."

"So what is it?"

"Kat, every fucking time I look at you, I see you...naked." He whispers the last word. I raise my eyebrows.

"So..."

"So I get a boner. I don't want the kiss to see that. I don't want anyone but you to see that."

I nod slowly. "Why are you seeing me...like that?" I ask.

"Because...I don't know." He sighs.

"Well..." I bite my lip. "Let's have sex then."

"You can't, your-"

"No I'm not." I cut him off.

"Your not?" He asks.

"Nope." I grin.

He stares at me, as if he doesn't believe me. I pounce on him and knock him to the floor.

...9...

Peeta rouses me gently, running his fingers through my hair and kissing my head. "Kat," he whisper. "Wake up."

"Why?" I whine.

"It's dinner time." He whispers.

"I'm not hungry." I moan.

"I didn't ask if you were hungry." He replies.

"I don't want to eat."

"You have to eat. If you don't them Morgan won't be very happy with her dinner." He reasons.

"I don't want to get up." I mumble.

He laughs softly and picks me up. I'm fully clothed anyways. He carries me downstairs and sets me at the table. I almost drop my head in my food but he catches my chin. Noah sits at the table and Morgan is in the bouncer. I force myself to eat.

"Have you been sleeping all day?" Peeta asks

"No, you know I got up and we um..." I trail off.

His eyes widen. "That was yesterday." He says. "I've been here all day because it's storming."

"Wait..." I frown. "That means Morgan hasn't eaten."

"Well she hasn't been crying much today." He says. I look at our daughter to see a bit of snot running down her nose, her cheeks are flushed red and her eyes are watery.

I recognize it almost immediately. I push back from the table. "That's because she's sick."

"What?" Peeta asks, worry laced in his voice. Noah coughs behind me and I look at him to see his nose is running, his cheeks are red and his eyes are watery.

"Not feeling good honey?" I ask.

He shakes his head and points to his throat. "It hurts." He whispers. I walk over to Morgan and feel her forehead. My stomach gets the feeling when you're scared for when you're sleeping and you feel like your falling and you wake up gasping and all sweaty. She has got a fever that is not face for a baby that's a month and three days old.

"She needs to go to the hospital." I speak up.

"What?" Peeta picks up Noah and his eyes widen and he presses his hand to his forehead. "Are they dying?"

I have to remind myself multiple times, all the time that I left with Noah and Peeta has no experience with babies. He looks panicked. "No baby," I pick Morgan up and try to get her to eat, but she rejects. I sigh and cover myself again. "Let's go."


	13. Chapter 13

"It's the flu." The doctor sighs. "Is she eating?"

"No, she won't eat at all." Peeta says.

"And what about Noah?" he asks.

"I eat." Noah says. "I just hurt lots."

"Open your mouth wide." The doctor instructs. Noah listens. "Say ahh." He says.

"Ahh." Noah says.

"He has canker sores all down his throat." He says. "And they have the same thing, so I'm gonna say she does, too."

"What can we do?" I ask.

"I'll give you some antibiotics. They both probably are going to wake up in the nighttime. I suggest you each take turns checking their fevers. You have to make sure to keep their noses cleaned out and she needs to sleep on an elevated surface to keep the mucus from going into her stomach. She will throw up what she has eaten, and if it gets bad enough, it will get into her lungs and she's going to have to have surgery."

"And about the canker sores?" I ask.

"Well there is a throat spray you can try for Noah, but for Morgan…there isn't much we can do. Keep her on the antibiotics and they'll go away."

"And if she does get better by…" I trail off.

"By…next week, bring her back. A1s a matter of fact, if she doesn't start eating soon, bring her back."

"How soon is soon?" I ask.

"Well…two days."

"Alright," I nod understandingly and stand up. He writes us a prescription and hands them to me. I pick up Morgan and Peeta picks up Noah. She looks miserable and so does Noah.

I hate when my babies, any of them, all three, are sick.

…a…

When we walk in the door, Morgan starts crying. She sounds decongested and miserable. But thankfully, when I offer her food, she accepts. She drinks really slowly, whimpering.  
"What happened here?" Johanna asks.  
"The kids are sick."  
"Shit. Morgan is too?" She asks.  
"Yes." I reply.  
"Kat I'll be back. I've got to go get the medicine." Peeta says.  
"I'll do it Peet." Finnick speaks up.  
"Oh...you don't have to..." Peeta trails off.  
"Well I'm going to anyways."  
"But Annie's pregnant..." He looks at Annie who is only about two or three months and hardly showing a thing.  
"I'll be fine." Annie waves Peeta off.  
"Are you sure?" Peeta asks. Morgan breaks away so I cover myself and start to burp her.  
I take the prescriptions from Peeta's hand and hand them to Finnick. "Sorry baby but we don't have time for this. Someone needs to get the medicine before their fevers get higher."  
"Anything else you guys need?" Finnick asks.  
I think for a moment even though Peeta's already told Finn no.  
"No." I say. Finnick nods. I hand him money and he walks out the door. I notice Johanna seems upset.  
"What's wrong?" I ask. She sits down on the couch and Annie sits next to her.

She looks like she's about to burst into tears, and I do a double take when I see tears sliding down her cheeks. "Jo?" Peeta sits down. "What's wrong?" he asks.

"Should I just forget about him?" she asks.

"About who?" I ask stupidly.

"Trace; should I forget him?" she makes no attempt to hide her tears.

We're all silent, thinking. "Can I ask you a question?" I blurt.

She shrugs in reply.

"The entire time I grew up, did I ever forget Peeta?" I ask.

"No…I mean…you forgot his name when you guys met but you still knew of him. No, you didn't forget." She sniffs.

"Now we're both twenty four and married with two kids. What did we do as we grew up? We waited. Jo, love will come to you one day. Now I'm not saying to forget about Trace, I'm just saying that if love with him doesn't come, another guy is out there."

"What if someone intervenes? Will love still happen?" she whispers.

If Johanna were to ask me for advice she would get me alone. She doesn't even care this time. "I'm not saying no and I'm not saying yes…I think that…love is love." I shrug.

"Love is weird." She says quietly, wiping her tears and studying the painting on the wall.

"It may be weird, but it's addicting; and dangerous." Peeta speaks up.

"Definitely dangerous." I nod in agreement. "But promise me something." I whisper.

"What?" she looks at me.

"You and I both know you have a temper sometimes. If you see something that makes you…break and rethink and act before you actually really think, don't leave. You're going to regret it."

"And if someone starts harassing you or trying to get involved into your relationship, don't hide it from Kat,-I mean Trace. Just tell him." Peeta says. "It's gonna save you a lot of shit in the long run."

"And remember," I begin again. "Remember the male weak spot. And remember I'm here to kick his ass."

"Me too," Annie says.

"Same." Peeta says. "And I can probably do the most damage. And just because I'm not really mean to people and none of you have ever seen me pissed, doesn't mean I can't break a bone."

"I've seen you angry." I mumble.

"Except Katniss." He corrects himself with a grin.

She sighs and stands up. "I just hope it works out." then she hugs all of us and gives each of the kids a kiss on the head before walking out the door.

Finn gets back after a half hour of silence. "What's up with the quietness?" he asks.

I dose the medicine out and give Noah's to Peeta, none of us answering Finn's question. "Can you give him that?" I whisper. He nods. I pull the stick up to get the right medicine and lay Morgan down on my lap.

She's going to hate me. I rest my hand on her chest and put the tip of the thing in her mouth. I push in all the medicine and put my hand over her mouth and pinch her nose till she swallows.

And when I release, she's screaming and her arms are flailing and her legs are kicking. Noah is throwing a tantrum, his hand over his mouth, refusing to even consider taking the medicine. "Let me." I take the medicine from Peeta and hand him Morgan. "Noah, I've giving you one chance to take the medicine." I say.

"No." he says.

"Fine." I pin him to the floor and he starts screaming, and then I have to make Finnick help me force his mouth open, and I dump in the liquid and camp my hand over his mouth and block his nose till he swallows. I release his nose but keep my hand over his mouth. "That is going to make you feel better no matter how much you hate it. If you want to give a hard time taking the medicine I will do this every single day for the rest of your life. When I release you, you're going to be a good boy and not start screaming, understood?" His eyes are huge. He nods. "If you start screaming I'm putting you to bed right now." I threaten. Peeta chuckles because this has a bit of sleepy syrup in it so he's going to go to sleep anyways. "Do you hear me?" he nods his head again. Slowly, I release his mouth and help him off the floor.

He doesn't make a single noise.

We continue to remain silent until well after both kids have fallen asleep. "That is the most…soft, I have ever seen Johanna. "Peeta says.

"What happened?" Finnick asks fr the second time. We quietly explain and he nods through the whole time.

"What are we gonna do about it?" Peeta asks.

We're silent for a minute or two. "I have an idea."


	14. Chapter 14

**Look I'm sorry the chapters haven't been long. I'm in high school and I get a shitload of homework so bear with me.**

It's been a week and the kids are, thankfully, back on their normal eating habits. They're still stuffy though. "Okay, let's go over the plan one more time." Finnick says.

"Okay, today it's going to storm. My car is really low on gas. It's going to break down. I'll walk in the rain all the way to Trace's house and tell him my car won't start. He's really nice so he'll let me in the house. My phone is going to be purposely left at home. He'll let me in and we'll talk for a long time. Hopefully, if he doesn't have plans, I'll convince him to come for Fourth of July. If he has plans I'll insist that he and his family or whoever comes for the holiday. If he says the plane tickets are too expensive, I'll insist on buying the plane tickets. And I have to find out if he's single."

"And if he has a phone?" Annie asks.

"Simple. I don't know your numbers by heart."

"Alright," Peeta claps his hands. "Let's get this show on the road."

….k….

It is raining so bad I can hardly see my had in front of my face as I walk up Trace's driveway. My car broke down about three miles down the road and I'm soaked to the bone and freezing. There is a light on in the living room and the car Trace was driving is in the driveway. I knock on the door and after a minute the door opens.  
"Katniss?" He asks.  
"H-hi." My teeth are chattering so badly.  
"Oh goodness. Come in, get out of this rain!" He pulls me in the door and shuts it behind me. "I'll be right back." He jogs upstairs. I stay where I'm standing, dripping water all over the floor. He comes back down with a ton of towels and hands all of them, still warm to me.  
"T-thank you." I wrap myself in the towels and then just stand there.  
"What brings you here?" He asks.  
"Funny story." I laugh. "My car broke down." He laughs, a loud laugh that is so contagious that I start laughing too, and then we're both laughing until we're crying.  
"And you don't know how to fix it." He says. I shrug. "Where's Peeta?" He asks.  
"He's at home and I don't have my phone." I sigh. "I forgot it on the counter."  
"Oh. You can use my phone."  
"I can't. I don't know their numbers by heart." I sigh.  
"Oh." He frowns. "Well, I'm not going to send you out in that rain again. How about you hang here for a while until the rain let's up?"  
"Oh I don't know..." I trail off.  
"Oh come on Katniss, you can't go out there in this horrific rain." He says.  
"Okay..." I trail off.

... ...

It's midnight and it's still storming just as badly as it was. We've been talking all night. His favorite color is red, like Johanna, he loves friend chicken, like Johanna. They have a whole lot in common. We both stop laughing after a moment or two. "Do you have a girlfriend?" I blurt. His eyes widen.  
"Um...your married." He says.  
"No, I would never, I'm just wondering. I mean, we're friends, right?" I smile. He grins back.  
"I suppose so. No, I don't have a girlfriend. I did once but she was very rude and mean to everyone and I wanted nothing to do with her."  
"Makes sense." I nod.  
His middle name is Trace Brad Clearwater and he is twenty four. He grew up in the country in Louisiana, he has a younger sister and he has a older sister and his twin nieces and twin nephews. And the best part is that he is coming for Fourth of July because he didn't have plans in the first place."Alright it's not letting up so how about I just give you a ride home?" He asks.  
Shit that can't happen, Johanna can't see I've been with him.  
Then again, she's probably either masturbating in the bathroom or anywhere in that house, or watching TV and eating popcorn. She tells me about her masturbating all the time.  
"Oh you really don't have to...I can't walk and stay in my car for the night-"  
"No way. I'll drive you home." He says. His southern country boy accent is extremely thick.  
"Alright," I sigh.  
"And tomorrow I'll get a look at your car." He adds.  
"Oh Peeta can do it." I wave him off.  
"Are you sure?" He asks.  
"Yeah, and we have Finnick and Annie and Johanna there." I purposely added Johanna.  
"Who is Finnick, Annie and Johanna?" He asks.  
"Finnick is my best friend and Annie  
A husband who is my other best friend and them Johanna is my cousin and my best friend and she's amazing."  
"Well I'll have to meet them." He says.  
"Yes you will." I smile. He grabs his umbrella and leads us to the car, delivering me, dry, to the truck, and then going around to his side. I notice right away that the seats and everything is the exact same as Peeta's truck. He shuts the door and starts the car. "I think you have the same truck as Peeta." I frown.  
"Oh, I do." He says. "We figured it out when he came to help me a few weeks ago." He explains.  
"Oh," I sit back and place my hands in my lap, because it feels like I'm in Peeta's truck and my hand is longing to search for my husbands hand, not Trace's.  
He drives in silence, and we pass my car on the way. He slows down, but then speeds up again, almost as if he was considering stopping.  
"Want me to walk you to the door?" He asks.  
"Oh no, that's alright. Thanks for everything."  
"No problem." He says. I get out of the car and jog up to the porch. He waits until the door is shut behind me to drive away.  
I notice the house is eerily quiet. "I'm home!" I call. I get no reply. Normally Peeta or Noah would come racing down the stairs. I frown and search every room. When I get to my bedroom after finding every room is empty, I slowly push the door open.  
Noah is sitting on the floor crying so hard he's going to make himself sick, and Morgan is crying too.  
Annie is holding Morgan, Finnick looks stressed and so does Peeta. I raise my eyebrows, still not noticed. When Noah's catches my eye, his entire face lights up. "Mommy!" He runs for me and I pick him up. "I thought you weren't coming back!" He whines. He wraps his arms around me and continues crying into my shoulder.  
"Well you thought wrong. You know I wouldn't leave like that." I stand him up in front of me and kneel down. "You need to stop crying or your going to make yourself sick."  
"I can't. I don't feel good and I'm tired." He whines.  
I look at Peeta. "Did they get their medicine?" I ask.  
"Yes. They had a bath and we've tried the TV and all their favorite thins and they've both eaten so they're not hungry and Morgan's diaper is clean and I just-" he sighs sharply and drops his head into hands. "We have tried every possible problem." He's so stressed that I actually feel bad. I stand up and take Noah's hand and pick Morgan up from Annie. She falls silent.  
"How long have they been crying?" I ask.  
"Like five hours." Peeta sighs.  
"Wow." I frown. Then I lay down with Morgan's head over my heart and Noah's head on my stomach.  
It takes five minutes of Noah's fake crying to fall asleep. Peeta goes to move him but I stop him. "I have a feeling he isn't going to sleep in his room tonight. He still looks stressed. "Actually just bring him to bed anyways." I whisper. He scoops Noah in his arms and sighs before walking off. He's not walking normally. He comes back as Finnick and Annie stand up.  
"Just tell us what happened tomorrow okay?" Annie asks. I nod and stand up, maneuvering Morgan into a more comfortable position. I deliver her in her crib and go into the bedroom where Finnick and Annie have left. Peeta is laying on his stomach.  
"What's wrong?" I shut the door, strip naked out of my clothes and change into panties and, after giving up on my clothes, making Peeta sit up so I can steal his shirt.  
"Your beautiful." He kisses my lips.  
I flush bright red and crawl to my side of the bed. "Thank you." I mumble. He just smiles as he lays down on his stomach.  
He doesn't really like laying on his stomach. "Baby?" I rest my hand on his back gently. "What's wrong?"  
"I'm just stressed. My back hurts, too." He mumbles.  
"What can I do?" I ask. He reaches over and squeezes my knee gently.  
"Stay right here." He says. I tangle my fingers in his curls.  
"I love you." I whisper. He rolls over and then sits up.  
"I love you too."  
A long make out session begins.

...9...

Peeta went to get my car and he's been gone an hour or two. I flick through the channels, bored to death, one kid laying on my stomach and the other laying between my legs, both sound asleep.  
I end up drifting off.  
**  
****Tbh I have a new story idea and I'm getting bored of this story if you like it give me ideas. If you want to know the new idea PM me**


	15. Chapter 15

I haven't seen Johanna in probably two weeks and she keeps the door locked and won't let anybody in the house. It's Fourth of July and the entire family is just walking in the door. Morgan is on the floor on a pillow on her stomach, struggling to lift her head, making quiet baby noises and struggling to get them out. She looks up at me and grins a toothless grin and I from back.  
Mom takes one look at her and bursts into tears. "What?" Dad asks. His eyes look pained as he looks at Morgan.  
"She's already so big!" Mom sobs. "Will she let me hold her?"  
"Honestly?" I ask.  
"Yes." She sniffs  
"Mom she doesn't know you. She won't let you hold her. She's afraid of anyone she doesn't know." She rests her chin on the pillow and looks around the room with her wide gray eyes.

"If I didn't know better I would say she is Katniss." Mrs. Mellark says. All of us drift into silence.

_What the hell is she doing here?_ "Well she's clearly not." Peeta gestures to me. "What are you doing here?"

Why won't Johanna come over? What if she killed herself?

My heart aches in pain. "Nice place you've got here." She looks around.

"What are you doing here?" Peeta repeats. I eye my daughter as Mrs. Mellark creeps closer to her, and I pick her up before she gets too close for comfort. Noah is behind Peeta and Peeta's hand is on his head.

"You guys had another child." She says. "I've missed so much."

"Well that isn't exactly our fault." Peeta snaps. Mrs. Mellark eyes my father with distaste.

"What's her name?" she changes the subject, looking at Morgan. Nobody says a word. "Fine then, let me see her." She reaches out for my daughter. A cynical laugh escapes my lips but I say nothing, I just back up. "Come here sweetie." She reaches for Morgan.

My daughter, who is already so much like me, just stares at her. She picks Morgan right from my arms and I take her right back and back up so I'm next to Peeta.

"Don't touch her." Peeta says.

I'm forcing my mouth to remain shut because, except for Johanna, I am the person in this family with the worst temper in this family, and if I say a word I'm bound to snap. "Why not? She is my granddaughter."

Peeta sighs sharply but remains silent.

Dammit of course I open my mouth. "Because we don't particularly like you and we most definitely don't want your hands on our kids."

She glares at me and I glare back. "Why do you hate me?" she demands.

"Why do you hate me?" I ask.

"Because you broke my sons heart and left with his son." She narrows her eyes.

"Mom, get out." Rye says.

"No Rye." She says sternly.

"Mom, leave." Peeta hisses.

"Look at her! She can't even defend herself!" she laughs.

"You don't want me to defend myself." I hiss. Peeta puts his hand on my arm, both to calm me and to stop me from killing my stupid mother-in-law.

"And why's that? Will you start crying for attention like the bitch you are?" she snaps.

To everyone's surprise, Noah walks right over to Mrs. Mellark, puts his hands on his hips, _kicks _her in the leg and says, "Don't talk to my mommy that way! Bully!" She grabs Noah's arms roughly and every ounce of calmness in my system vanishes. I hand Morgan to Peeta, pull Noah back and stand right in front of Mrs. Mellark.

"You have ten seconds to get the hell out of our house before I pin your fucking head to the wall." I hiss.

"My son's son just kicked me!" she defends herself.

"He's _our _son. Get out." Peeta's pissed. This is the first time that anyone has actually seen him as angry as he is now aside from me.

"No." Mrs. Mellark crosses her arms. Finnick takes Morgan from his arms and she stays silent. Peeta's hands ball into fists so tight that his knuckles go completely white. Someone needs to calm him down or he'll start screaming at her and throwing things at the wall. "Yes." He hisses. Everyone begins to look uncomfortable.

Shit, Katniss, think!

I look between Peeta and Mrs. Mellark for a minute or two. Peeta's hands are trembling. "I'm not leaving. Your can't make me." I notice Johanna standing in here in a black tank top and camo skinny jeans with combat boots.

"Ma'am," Trace speaks up. I don't know how long he's been here either. Johanna's eyes shoot up to him and her entire face goes bright red. "I don't know who you are, but this ain't your property. You were asked to leave and it's very disrespectful for you not to. I would just like to make you aware that I've already phoned the police department so they can remove you from Katniss and Peeta Mellark's property."

Mrs. Mellark raises her hand to slap him but Johanna is across the room with both Mrs. Mellark's arms pinned behind her back.

"Don't hit him because he's polite and respectful and wise and you are not. That's wrong."

"Johanna let go of me!" She screams at her.

"Johanna Mason." Trace says. "Well you must be Katniss's cousin. She didn't mention how beautiful you are." Trace says.

Oh shit it's going to happen. The police officer knocks on the door and Mr. Mellark opens it.

He starts questioning us and we calmly explain. Then he looks me up and down for a long time.

"I thought your daughter got kidnapped." He says.

"Well she was brought home." I reply. He takes Mrs. Mellark out of the house.

"Thank you Johanna Mason." Trace gives her a big hug and Johanna hugs him back. I hear Trace inhale deeply. "You even smell beautiful." He releases her and holds her at arms length for a minute to study her features before releasing her.

"What do we do about him?" Dad nods at Peeta, who still looks livid, his hands still in fists. He is staring off into space and looks like he is about ready to kill somebody and he isn't blinking.

"What's up with him?" Johanna asks.

"He told you that you've never seen him mad and he meant it. He's trying not to start screaming and breaking things." I explain. Everyone looks surprised. "Hey." I nudge his arm. "Stop that." I lean up and kiss him and take his balled fists. "Hey." I tug on his fingers. "Hey, look at me." I whisper softly. His eyes snap onto mine. "It's okay. She's not here. Open your fists." He continues to stare at me and still says nothing. "Come on baby. Come on. Calm down, open your fists." I whisper. Slowly, his hands uncurl and I entwine his fingers with mine. "She's gone. Trace called the police. She's gone." I kiss him again. He doesn't kiss back because I know he's still really angry. "Come on. Deep breaths," I soothe. He doesn't respond. "Come on baby, come back to me." I whisper. He inhales sharply. I lean up and kiss him a again. "Please?" I whisper again. I've only had to do this once before and that was a bit after we had problems with his mom the first time and I was actually scared. I remember I was crying. He slowly let's the air out of his lungs and takes another deep breath. "You won't kill her. I won't let you." I stand on tiptoe again and wrap my arms around his neck. After a moment or two, he wraps his arms around my waist and buries his head in my hair. When I go to release him, his grip tightens, clearly telling me I'm not allowed to release him.

I just stand there for I don't know how long. Everyone begins to catch up and Trace and Johanna sit down on the floor and begin to talk. Mom does get to hold Morgan because she doesn't cry. Peeta still doesn't release me. "I hate getting like that." He whispers in my ear. "It scares me. I don't remember anything and I'm afraid I'll snap out of it and find you dead and I can't deal with that and it scares the shit out of me because I don't like hurting people physically or mentally." He continues. "Promise me when I get like that again you'll take the kids and leave for a few hours." He begs.

"I promise." I whisper.

"How dare she touch him like that or talk to you like that!" His hands go to fists again.

"Shhh," I whisper, curling my fingers in his hair. "Deep breaths."

"I need something." He whispers in my ear, his breathing rapid, his hands sliding downward, closer to my ass. "I really need you right now. I don't want to come I just want you to. I wanna hear you scream." He nuzzles my neck.

"Well that's not very fair." I whisper back. "Besides, it's the middle of the day and we have way to many people to have any sort of sexual contact at all." I whisper.

"You know." Peeta releases me, speaking up. "It's forth of July and we don't even know what's at the end of our property and we still have yet to find the river. Let's go hiking."

"That's a great idea!" Johanna stands up. She looks so happy. "Let's all go get ready!" Peeta says.

...9...

I have everything I could possibly need for both kids and Peeta actually went out and got a wagon for when they get fussy. It's big enough to fit Morgan's mattress so she and Noah are drenched in sunscreen, tagging along. Mom insisted on pulling the wagon. Peeta waits till nobody is paying attention to grab my arm and pull me into a bush. "Let's get lost so I can do what I want to you" he begs quietly.

"No Peeta. We can't leave the kids." I whisper.

"But I really want to touch you." He whispers.

"Peeta why are we in a bush?" I laugh.

"Because I want you." He moans.

I push my way out of the bush and he follows me. He grins and plucks leaves from my hair. "I'll wait." He says. We jog to catch up with everyone and they don't even know we're gone.

Johanna and Trace, who are holding hands, about a hundred feet in front if us stop short. "We have a problem." The sound of water hits my ears. "We found the river."

"Whys that a problem?" I walk up next to them and everyone stands beside us.

"Because we don't know how deep it is and it's moving fast and there's no way to get past without going in." Trace says.

"Well it can't be that deep." I insist, sitting down on the edge of the river. Peeta takes hold of my hands.

"Or," Johanna pulls me to my feet. "We walk till we find somewhere shallow and walk across."

...2...

Now we sit in silence. We started a fire, or…Dad and I started a fire. Morgan is sleeping in Mom's arms; Noah is running around with Audrey and Madison. Johanna and Trace are sitting away, side by side, watching the sunset. Peeta lays down in the meadow of pink flowers, the hills close by. This is the end of our property and it's absolutely stunning. I watch him from my seat on the log next to my mother and sip my watermelon lemonade. Peeta is watching the sunset too. The best part about living in the country is you hardly have service. Annie and Finnick are sitting together too. I look at Johanna and Trace and watch as he takes her hand in his and pulls her closer so she's pressed against his side. She slowly rests her head on his shoulder and he leans his head on hers.

They're adorable. I look at Finn and Annie to see she's leaned against his chest with his arms around her and placed on his stomach. Then I look at Peeta and study him from far away. "Katniss baby," Mom whispers. "You can go over there with him. I've got Morgan and Noah." She promises.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yeah honey, I'm sure." She says, patting my hand.

"Thanks Mom." I smile.

"No problem honey." She smiles back. I stand up and move around the fire to go over to Peeta.

"Hi." I sit down with my legs crossed next to him.

"Hi." He sits up.

Gently his pointer finger tilts my chin upward. My eyes slowly glide shut at his touch. I feel his lips press against mine for a moment, warm and familiar but still intense and breathtaking, even though it's just a long peck. When we break apart from the kiss about five or ten seconds later, he kisses the tip of my nose. I feel a lot of people's eyes on us. He moves his legs so they're in a ring and, without warning he picks me up so I'm sitting in the gap against his chest. His arms wind tightly around me from behind.

No words are needed to feel the love between us.

I study the colors; all the yellows and blue's and purples and oranges. There are so many colors I've never noticed before. After a good long fifteen minutes, Peeta whispers, "So beautiful,"

"I know." I whisper back.

His grip around me tightens and he moves to plant a kiss on my cheek. "I'm not talking about the sunset."

It takes me a moment to fully understand that he wasn't talking about the sunset, he was talking about me. "I love you." I whisper.

"I love you, too." He murmurs. His release his right hand around me and sweeps my hair to free my neck.

"You smell like Jesus himself."

"How do you know what Jesus smells like?"

"Because I'm married to you." he explains.

"But…" I trail off, confused.

"Katniss, nobody, nothing in existence or that will ever be in existence could smell better than you do. If they had female perfume with your scent, I would wear it every day." He plants a soft kiss on my neck. "And I just…am so…" he searches for the right word. "I'm whipped." He admits. "So badly, I can never control myself around you. I love you so much. I don't even know how much I love you. You and I both know that we're both catholic. I remember one day when I was fifteen I was in church and the priest said that god loves everyone more than he loves us. I remember that day so clearly because that was the day I realized that I love you so, so much more than god loves any of us. I would do absolutely anything for you because you are just that beautiful and incredible and gorgeous and adorable and I love your personality. Katniss there isn't a single thing I don't love about you. I love every single inch of you. If you hated my guts and wanted to divorce, I would let you go. But I would never remarry, I would never move on and this ring-" he taps the ring on his left hand and continues, "-will never leave my finger because I am, and always will be forever yours even if you don't want me. If you killed somebody I would help you hide the body. If you died, my body would stay functioning but my soul will be with you. If you left, I would stay close by to make sure you're okay, but I would keep my distance. Sure, I'd try and make you stay, but if you really, really wanted to leave, I would let you. All that matters in my life is that you and my kids are happy. That's it. I can be depressed and hate my life but as long as you and the kids are happy, I'll be okay. Because I love you more than I ever thought was feasibly possible."

I don't actually know what to say. I'm like a fish out of water when it comes to words. My mouth opens and closes multiple times before I register the taste of saltwater. Everyone, Johanna, Trace, Annie and Finnick, are all looking at us now. I slowly turn around so I'm facing him. "Don't cry." He wipes my tears.

"I'm not sad." I mumble. "I'm just…I hate words. I'm no good at them. I can't say how much I love you because I don't know and I definitely can't say that…because I don't even know what feasibly means." He pulls me closer.

"It's basically a better word for…basically I said I love you more than I even thought was possible." He explains.

"I love you too." I kiss him. And pull away. "But I love you more." His lips turn to a big goofy grin and his mouth opens and he starts shaking his head.

"That's impossible." He says. I laugh quietly.

"Nothing is impossible." I say. "I love you more than you love me. That's not impossible because it exists."

"It doesn't exist." He argues. "I love you more."

"No you don't." I reply.

"Yes I do I promise." He says.

"No you don't I promise." I mimic.

"Yes." He says.

"No." I reply.

"Yes." He says.

"Yes." I say.

"No-wait…hey! You tricked me!" he makes a grab for me but I'm already off his lap, shooting past him. "Hey! Get back here Katniss Joy! You're gonna pay for that!" he chases me all around the field.

"Oh, am I?" I call back.

"Yes you are!" he keeps chasing me. Without warning, he's in front of me, having changed course without me knowing. I loud giggle, that can only ever come out of me when I'm with Peeta escapes my lips, and I make a move to escape but he's already grabbed my waist and picks me up.

"Hey!" I giggle.

"Hey, yourself." He replies.

"Put me down!" I wiggle around in his arms, giggling like crazy. "Please!" I beg desperately.

"You're lucky I can't deny you anything." He sets me down. I'm still giggling uncontrobally. The sun is already down and the sky is black, stars are out and crickets are chirping. Peeta takes my hand gently in his own and plops down and tugs me onto his lap. He lies down and I lay on top of him with my head on his chest.

PEETA'S POV

I feel Katniss's heartbeat beating in sync with my own and it feels like she is literally inside of me and our hearts are one. I engulf her beautiful scent repeatedly for god knows how long. Her breathing is getting slower and I know she is more than likely almost asleep. "Hey lovebirds, it's time for fireworks!" Rye shouts. She jumps and then moans softly and mumbles a 'go away'.

"HEY!" Kegan shouts. She moans in annoyance again, really loudly.

"Shut up!" she snaps. I chuckle.

"It's time for fireworks." I whisper. "Then, if you want, I'll carry you home."

"I don't want to make you do that." She sits up on my dick without actually meaning to and stretches, rubbing herself against me without actually meaning to. I find myself reacting, and she smirks.

"Hey!" Noah shouts. "Come on Momma! Come on Daddy!"

KATNISS'S POV

He looks scared for me to get up. "Why can't we watch from here?" I shout.

Mom says something, shifting Morgan, who should be getting hungry at any moment, in her arms. Everyone moves over to us and settles around us. Morgan starts crying and is placed in my arms, pawing at my boob to get to my nipple so she can eat. I steal Peeta's shirt and shift in his lap. He sits up so his dick is pressed into my back.

I fidget a lot as the fireworks explode and Peeta sits up suddenly and hisses in my ear, "You are getting me close to the edge. Stop moving or things are going to get ugly."

_What edge? Oh…_

I still, or at least I think, because he stops me again.

Finally, the fireworks end and we head out. Dad pulls the wagon this time and ignoring Peeta and I insisting they are our children to take care of. As we cross the river, still probably another two hours to walk, I trip on a root because I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open. I don't have the energy to get up again. "Hey," Peeta kneels down beside me. "What's the matter? Get up." He says.

"I can't." I whimper.

"Why?"

"Because I just can't." I don't want to be the bitchy wife that makes the husband do everything and there is no way I'm going to make Peeta carry me home two hours.

"Tired?" he asks.

"No." I lie, my words slurring.

"Liar." He smirks and lifts me up. "Don't tell me what to do." he says. "Which means you can't make me put you down."

PEETA'S POV

She's death asleep, completely limp. It's been a half hour and I'm exhausted. "Is she basically unconscious?" Finnick asks, also carrying Annie.

"Pretty much." I reply.

"Same with Johanna," Trace says. He's carrying her, too. Both my kids are dead asleep. It's been a long day and it's late now.

"Hey bro, want me to give you a break?" Rye asks.

I don't want anyone touching my wife. "Nah, it's fine."

"That wagon is pretty big, put them in there." Graham says.

"The kids are in there and they'll wake up if we move them." I warn.

"Never mind," He sighs. "Well, good luck then."


	16. Chapter 16

**I have to be honest with you that I'm skipping a lot of time in the chapter after this. Sorry…**

KATNISS'S POV

Nobody is in the house when I go downstairs the next morning. I call everyone but their phone's ring in the house. All I know it I fell asleep when I was just hardly in Peeta's arm and I woke up this morning. I take a long, hot shower, shave, and get dressed in blue jeans, cowgirl boots and a red and black plaid three quarter sleeve shirt with a black bra and matching panties. I roll on deodorant, too and brush my hair. I put my hair in a braid and walk out the front door. All the cars are here, but come of them are making those clicking noises like they've just been shut off. They're all hot. I wander around the house to the back to see everyone with wood planks and building stuff. Trace has taken over and everyone is chatting. Peeta spots me first. "Good, your awake!" He runs over to me and engulfs me in a huge hug. He gives me a kiss. "Sleep well?" he asks. I nod quietly.

"What's all this?" I ask.

"Well," he takes my hand and leads me over to all the stuff. "Saddles and cattle stuff. We have fencing and seeds and everything! We're going to completely finish the building and before everyone leaves we'll be completely done. Well, that's the plan anyways."

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Well, you pretty much just had a baby so we all agree you're not allowed to overwork yourself and Annie _is _having a baby, so you are taking Morgan and you're going to Asheville to get horses and cows." He says.

"Where are we putting them?" I ask.

"By the time you get back we'll have the farm built. People from the town and everything are helping. There will be plenty of people."

"How do I get them here?" I ask.

"Well the place you are going is Trace's uncle's farm and he is going to follow you back here."

"Okay…"

"We have everything else we could possibly need." He looks so excited that I can't help but grin. "I'll text you the exact amount." He says.

"Okay." I grin. He pulls me into a sweaty hug because it is a hundred degrees outside and he's sweating like crazy. He releases me and the sweat doesn't bother me, we've done much more when we're sweating.

The thought makes me start laughing. Everyone is staring at me like I'm insane. "What's funny?" Peeta asks with a smile.

I control my laughter as I whisper, only audible for him, in his ear, "I was just thinking about how it doesn't disgust me your all sweaty, because we've done much more things when we're all sweaty." I lean back to look in his eyes, and he starts laughing loudly, and I start laughing again.

We laugh until we're crying and falling over each other, clutching our sides with dear life. He pulls me into another hug until we stop laughing, and then we stay silent in each other's arms. "I still haven't gotten to do what I want to do to you." he reminds me in my ear.

"Peeta you know what I told you." I whisper back.

"I don't care." He says. "_Please_." I place a gentle kiss on his cheek because I honestly feel bad. Then I back away, because I absolutely hate telling him no. He stares at me when I release him and then dips down to give me a gentle kiss on the lips. "I _will_ get what I want." He whispers against my lips so quietly that I hardly hear him.

"I know you will." I kiss him again and back away. He stares at me for a long time and I pick up Morgan. "I'm going to get the stuff for the baby."

"Well let me hold her until your ready to go!" Mom takes her from my arms again.

"I'll help you." Peeta pipes up.

"Oh, you don't have to." I reply, knowing what he really plans to do the second he gets me alone. It's not that I don't want him to, because god, I really do, it's that I don't think it's appropriate to do when we have both families over here, in the middle of the day with the kids around.

"Well I want to help you." he insists desperately.

I sigh and walk off to the house and right upstairs to Morgan's room. "Don't try anything." I warn.

"Why not?" he asks.

"Because I don't want you!" I start packing up Morgan's things. It only takes a minute. "Okay? I don't want you to!"  
The rejected look on his face will never leave my mind.

…..a…..

"I'm a bitch." I blurt to Annie after driving a half hour in silence, Morgan sleeping peacefully in her crib.

"I knew something was bothering you." she laughs.

"Peeta said that entire speech last night and I hardly said a word back and he really wants to have sex but I keep telling him no and I swear to god I said the worst thing Ann, you should have seen his face!"

"What did you say?" she asks.

"I said I didn't want him. It's not true, I do want him I just don't think it's appropriate to do with the entire family over, in the middle of the day with the kids. I feel horrible!"

"So you messed up," she begins. "That's okay Kat. Everybody says tuff they don't mean. Just go home and beg for forgiveness and…damn Kat, it's _Peeta _of _course _he's going to forgive you."

"But I don't deserve to be forgiven." I whisper.

"Yes you do." she says.

"No I-"

"Yes you do." she cuts me off.

PEETA'S POV

I can't concentrate on anything and I really want to pull my hair out. "PEET BRO!" I very familiar voice shouts. I look up to see my best friend Jared, who I haven't seen in almost a year walking toward me. I don't grin because I'm upset; I just cast him a wave and continue working on the fencing with Finnick. "The fuck man, that's all I get?" he's standing in front of me now, his hair stuck to his forehead. I hug him for a second.

"Alright Peet, your being real quiet, what happened?" Finnick stands up. "Is kitty depriving you?"

"Well yes but she said 'I don't want you' and then she left, so yeah…" I don't look at them as I turn back to the fence that is nearly done. It's been an hour and there is so many people helping that we're almost halfway done.

With the fence we've gone all the way around the property an in about five minutes we'll be completely done. "Oh come _on_ Peet!" Jared says. "Stop being so damn hard-headed! This is _Kat_ we're talking about! She probably got mad again and said shit she didn't mean!"

"Yeah Peet, come on, Katniss said she wanted to watch me die one day when she was pissed and then she left and when she got home and ran into my arms sobbing her eyes out and calling herself a heartless bitch! She was crying so hard she threw up all over me and then she cried harder because she felt bad she threw up on me."

I find myself laughing and shaking my head. "That sounds exactly like her."

"That's because it _is_ exactly like her!" Jared snickers.

"Well she might have meant it."

"And if she did then oh well, fuck her!" Finnick laughs.

"That's what I've been trying to do!" I laugh too.

"I'm not talking about that kind of fucking!"

"He means get over it." Jared explains.

"Well I can't do that." I nail in the last board and stand up.

KATNISS'S POV

We had to get eighteen horses and ten cows. We're not selling them for slaughter, we're going to milk the cows and breed the horses. We're already on our way home and I feel so bad that I almost have to pull over to throw up.

We pull up in front of the house. "I'll get Morgan." Annie says. I don't have time to thank her before I bolt up the porch, through the empty house to the half bathroom in the living room, throw up, flush, brush my teeth and go out front. They've already got the cattle into the back and Annie is waiting for me with Morgan. She leads me around the house and I'm surprised to see that Peeta was right, they would finish. The kids are going crazy over the animals and Peeta is purposely not looking at me, instead engaged in a conversation with Finnick and Jared. Allison is obsessing over Morgan now. His back is turned but I know he knows I'm here.

I have to apologize. I weave through bodies of family and friends and people I've never met before then grab Peeta's hand, spin him to face me and collide my lips hungrily with his. He pauses just for a second before kissing me back; dropping whatever was in his hands to pull me up against him. My hands grab his t-shirt to pull him even closer.

"Let's go that way Finnick!" Jared says, sounding uncomfortable. They both run off. My whole body is on fire with desire and want and need. A low moan escapes me that is so quiet that only he can hear it.

I force myself to pull away though because it feels _so good_ that I know I won't be able to refrain myself from ripping his clothes off right here in front of everyone. We're both struggling for air. I wind my fingers into his hair as the tears that I've managed to keep out of sight appear on my cheeks. "Peeta I am so sorry that I said that. I meant no harm, I just said some stupid things and I really didn't mean it and I love you so much and I do want you but I don't think it's appropriate with the whole family here. The kids…in the middle of the day it just doesn't seem right to me and I'm so, so sorry. I swear I didn't mean it, I just…" I rest my head against his chest. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's okay baby." He murmurs, "It's really not a big deal. I know you didn't mean it." He tilts my chin up to meet his eyes. "Don't cry." He dips down to kiss away my tears. "Let's go explore."

…..a…

There is a dark brown horse that I have fallen in love with. Peeta and I haven't gotten to explore. That was three days ago that he said let's explore. Now we're saying goodbye to the family. "Are you guys coming up for thanksgiving?" Mom asks, clutching to Morgan, looking like she's going to burst into tears.

"We can't leave the farm…" I bite my lip.

She looks upset as she gives all of us hugs again.

**Okay i'm skipping _two_ years. yah I know you guys are gonna be pissed and i'm sorry but I actually am addicted to this new story idea and I have to do it.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I really need to write this new story it's absolutely killing me. **

The press is still wild about me. It's irritating.

You would think that after two years they would back off but they don't.

I feel absolutely horrible because we haven't seen any of the family in two years since they left the farm. Morgan is going on three and Noah is going on five.

Morgan is already potty trained and both of them bicker sometimes when Noah does something Morgan doesn't like. "Baby?" I ask Peeta.

"Yes?" he turns to me.

"I feel terrible. It's been two years and we haven't seen anybody." I bite my lip.

"We've seen Finnick and Annie and the baby and Johanna and Trace." He frowns.

"I mean family wise. I kind of miss them."

"Yeah I really miss them too." He pulls the cookies from the oven.

"I want some!" Morgan says. She looks exactly like me. it's like I had a daughter and only me and not Peeta. If that was possible we would all agree that is what happened..

"That's not how you ask Morgan." Peeta says.

"Peas can I have a cookie?" she asks.

"They're too hot." I reply.

"Peas?" she repeats.

"In a few minutes."

"Noah!" Peeta calls.

"Coming!" he comes running into the kitchen.

"How would you two like to go visit Kentucky?" Peeta asks.

"Where is that?" Morgan asks.

"That is where the rest of our family lives." Peeta replies.

"Can we go see Aunt Allison?" Noah asks.

"Who's that?" Morgan whines. "Why does Noah get to know everybody!" she crosses her arms, sits down on the floor and starts to cry.

"I guess so." Peeta frowns.

"Let's go to Washington too. Check up on the stores." I suggest.

"Alright, Morgan, get up." Peeta says. One thing he can't stand is pouting and crying for attention. It just sets him off. He actually put Morgan in timeout for three hours because she was throwing a tantrum.

"Come on honey, let's go pack." I take her hand and pull her with me upstairs.

…s…

We get to Kentucky six hours later and before I know it, the nine of us, Johanna, Trace, Annie, Finnick, their son Parker, Peeta, me Morgan and Noah are standing in my parents' driveway.

"Let's all hide." I suggest. "Morgan, so ask them for money." I say.

"Okay!" she giggles. "So I say 'can I have some money?'"

"That's exactly what you say." I run my hands through her dark wavy hair. "Now let's all hide…on the side of the house. Morgan, knock when you hear someone whistle." She runs up to the door and waits as the rest of us dart around the side of the house. I let out a whistle, a quiet one. I hear a loud knocking. The front door opens.

"Hello dear. Where is your mommy?" That is my mother and I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing.

"Hi! Can I have money?" Morgan asks.

"Ethan, some child is at the door asking for money and she hasn't got anybody with her!" Mom sounds worried. We purposely parked down the street.

"She looks exactly like Katniss." That's dad. "Like, one hundred percent completely like Katniss. If I didn't know better I would think she is you."

"Who Katnus?" Morgan asks.

I laugh into my hand because she is exactly like me, even her personality. "Where is your mommy?" that's Prim.

"Should I go out there?" I whisper. Everyone starts nodding. I peek my head around the side of the house.

"She not here." Morgan lies. "I walk here." She says.

"Where do you live?" Prim asks.

"I live at a home." Morgan says.

"Sweetheart, do you have a daddy or a mommy?" Mom asks softly. I creep out of the house.

"There my mommy!" Morgan points at me and I step all the way into their view. Morgan smiles the exact same smile as me.

"Wait…oh my god!" Prim grins. Morgan hides behind my leg when I move up to stand beside her.

"Katniss!" Mom hugs me. "Oh my god!" I laugh.

"Hi mom." I release her and hug Dad and then Prim.

"You must be Morgan." Prim squats down in front of her.

"Hi." Morgan whispers.

"I'm your Mommy's sister, Auntie Prim." Morgan slowly creeps out from behind me and throws her arms around Prim's neck.

"Hi Auntie." Morgan whispers. She releases her and turns to my parents.

"I'm your grandma." Mom says.

"Hi." Morgan hugs her.

"I'm your grandpa." Morgan hugs Dad.

"Where's my sons and my niece and my grandsons? And my daughter?" Mom says.

Her sons are Peeta and Finnick, her niece is Johanna, her grandsons are Noah and Parker and her daughter is Annie. Trace isn't qualified as family because she barely knows him. Noah comes running up the porch and Peeta follows with Annie and Finnick and Parker and Johanna and Trace.

Morgan jumps up into my arms and Noah races into the house and drags Peeta with him. His eyes went from gray to blue like Peeta's and they look like twins. "Will you make me cookies Daddy?" he begs. Morgan tugs my hair gently.

"Let's go inside!" She climbs off of me, grabs my hand and pulls me in the door.

…..a…..

"She looks so much like you." Rye whispers. Morgan is asleep right on top of me, her hair mixed with mine. So it looks like she has much more hair then she really does.

"It's actually disturbing how much she looks like you." Kegan whispers. I smile.

"She's a major Mama's girl." Peeta says.

"And Noah is a daddy's boy." I add.

"Am not!" Noah whines loudly, which wakes up Morgan.

"Be quiet Noah!" Morgan screams at him.

"You be quiet!" Noah screams back. They start arguing.

"Mommy likes you more!"

"No she likes you more!"

"She she doesn't she told me I'm ugly she likes you more!"

"She likes you she told me so!"

"No she doesn't, she-"

"Both of you be quiet." I say loudly. Their eyes go wide and they both fall silent. "You guys know that I love both of you equally. Stop fighting or I'm taking everything but food, baths and clothing away from you."

"Daddy told me he likes you more Morgan." Noah says.

"Noah." I hiss.

"Sorry." He falls silent. Morgan climbs off me and walks right over to Noah.

"I want this." She takes the toy from his hand.

"That's mine!" Noah scrambles off the couch and tackles Morgan and they start screaming at each other. "Bully, give it back!"

"No it's mine I want it! Momma says to share!" Morgan bites Noah's finger until she draws blood and Noah starts screaming at her. Peeta walks out of the kitchen and his jaw drops.

"I hate you!" Noah screams.

"I hate you too!" Morgan screams back. They have never fought like this. I look at the fireplace and the toy. Then I stand up, rip the toy from Morgan's hand and toss it in the fireplace.

"That's exactly what I would have done." Haymitch announces.

"Don't move." I warn my two animals. They stare at me. I walk into the garage and get the duct tape. Then I go upstairs and get Noah a long sleeve shirt and Morgan a long sleeve shirt. "Take your shirts off." I tell them. They listen to me. I slip the long sleeve shirts over their heads. I put Morgan's left arm out and Noah's right.

"What are you gonna do to us?" Noah asks. I duct tape their arms together.

"You two are going to stay stuck together for a whole day."

"What; no way Mommy!" Noah whines

"If you two won't get along I'll force you to get along." I reply. "Don't' argue with me."

"Daddy, tell Mommy she isn't allowed to do this." Morgan says.

"No." Peeta says.

"You know, I can't believe we never thought of this." Mom says to dad.

"Grandma is Mommy allowed to do this?" Noah asks.

"This is mean." Morgan sits down on the floor and starts crying.

"Get up!" Noah yanks her back to her feet.

"Stop it!" Morgan stands up and pushes Noah and knocks him backwards, taking herself with him.

Noah scrambles to his feet and pushes Morgan and ends up knocking himself down on top of her.

"Why did you break my toy?"

Morgan demands.

"Actually, I bought it. It's my toy."

"But you gave it to me!" Noah whines.

"Well that's just too bad."

"You're mean," Morgan whispers. I shrug and lay back down.

"Okay."

Morgan has told me she hates me before and I spent an entire day crying my eyes out into Peeta's chest while the kids were watched by Annie and Finnick.

…a…

They have to sleep together but it's working. They're not arguing because every time they do I add a day.

When I take off the tape the next day they are so overjoyed. "Can I have my toy back now?" Morgan asks.

"Your toy doesn't exist anymore."

"Why not?" she asks.

"Because I got rid of it because you were fighting."

She sighs and crawls onto my lap. "Sorry mommy." She's in a tan dress. "Will you do my hair like how you do yours but cooler?" she asks.

Mom gasps suddenly. "I have an idea! Let's test if you actually do get your memory at two years old!" Mom runs up the stairs and comes back down with a red and white plaid sundress. She dresses Morgan in it. "Now do her hair." she sets her on my lap. Then she takes Noah and runs off upstairs. I take Morgan's hair out of its bun and let it fall down her back. Prim hands me a hairbrush and I gently brush through her hair. She fiddles around on my phone and pretends to call someone. She talks to the 'person' for a while before getting bored and hanging up.

"Do you need a hair tie?" Prim asks.

"Please." I reply. She pulls a red one off her arm and hands it to me. I put it on my wrist and part Morgan's hair into three piece and then part each one of those pieces into three pieces and braid all three pieces. It's very time costly. I take the three braids and braid them into one. Then I tie off the braid.

"Done?" Morgan asks.

"Yes." I reply.

"Can I see it?" She asks. She has hair that does down her to butt, so I take the braid and toss it over her shoulder. She inspects it. "Mommy?" she asks.

"Yes?" She turns to face me. "When am I gonna get those?" she points at my breasts. Peeta laughs quietly.

"When you're older,"

"Old as you?" she asks.

"No, younger than m but older than you." I reply.

"Well can I have this one." She places her hand on my right breast. I remove her hand. "You say to share Mommy. You have to share with me."

"I can't share them." I reply.

"Why not?" she demands.

"Because you are attached to me."

"Well then let's take them off." She pulls of my breast and I remove her hand.

"We can't." I sigh.

"But I want one!" she cries.

"Morgan." Peeta pipes up. "Knock it off."

"But it's not fair that I have to share and Mom doesn't!" she screams at him. Peeta sighs, stressed and so do I. Mom comes downstairs with Noah again.

"You know what." Dad stands up. "I want you two to go out and have a night alone together. We'll watch the kids."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"Yes. Get out." Dad says. Peeta grabs the keys and my hand and leads me out of the house.

..a..

"I have missed..." He pulls me closer. "...this."

Peeta and I haven't gotten to fully be alone together in a year and a half. We haven't gotten to make love. Morgan insists on showering with me and staying by my side at all time. She sleeps in our bed, too.

Peeta and I are deep in the forest way away from where anybody could ever find us. He is laying in the grass and I am sitting next to him. I miss him. He hasn't even seen my breasts in a year and a half because Morgan is always around. He hasn't really seen me in a year in a half.

He sits up and turns to face me.

Not to mention we haven't kissed either. We can hug but they don't last as long as we'd like. I grab his wrists and lay down in the grass. "I've missed you." I whisper.

"I've missed you too." He mumbles. He holds his hands up and I play with his fingers. He watches my face closely.

His eyes are locked on mine so tightly that he doesn't notice as I slip his wrist up under my shirt and bra to rest right on my breast.

Then he gasps. I keep my eyes locked on him. "Damn." He whispers. He gets a giant boner and I sit up and push him so he's laying down. "What are you doing?" He asks weakly.

"I want to make you feel good." I whisper, freeing the button on his jeans and sliding down the zipper.

"Kat I won't be able to refrain." He warns.

"I don't want you to." I free him from his boxers.

...9...

He watches me as I dress again. "We need to make Morgan sleep in her own bed." He sighs. "She can't keep taking ours. We need to get her to sleep in her own room so we can have some time alone." He insists.

I sit down on his groin and cross my legs. He's laying down anyways. "I miss you so much." He whispers. I lean down to give him a long, loving kiss.

"I miss you too."

...77...

When we walk in the door at one in the morning, Noah is sleeping on the couch and Johanna is trying to calm Morgan who won't stop crying.

"Mommy." Morgan whimpers, running for me. "She tried to take me. She hurt me." She whimpers. My gut tightens in worry for my baby girl.

"Who did honey?" I ask, kneeling down in front of her.

"We need to talk." Dad pipes up. "Now." I stand up and go to step around Morgan, but she starts screaming. There is a cut on her forehead, and she has a black eye.

"NO DON'T LET ME GO ALONE!" She screams. She wakes Noah.

"S'okay Morgan." He mumbles. I pick her up and everyone starts coming downstairs. Annie has been crying and everyone else just looks stressed. I cast a worried look to Peeta and he returns it.

"Both of you sit down." Dad runs his hands over his face. I notice the back door is shattered. Morgan is crying her eyes out. I sit down next to Noah on the couch and Peeta sits next to me. Dad sighs again, "everyone was asleep upstairs. Morgan was awake and so was Noah. They had fallen asleep watching cartoons. We locked the doors and figured you guys were going to ring the bell. I woke up to go to the bathroom and I head something shatter. Them Morgan and Noah started screaming so I ran downstairs and there was this person. She kicked Morgan in the ribs and she punched her in the face and took a knife to her forehead. I managed to scare her off and she ran away. She didn't bother with Noah. She probably would have gotten to him next. Either she was looking to kill them or she was going to take them. We called the police and they came and they want to talk to the two of you and said to call when you get home."

"Call them." I whisper. I lay Morgan down on my lap and lift her dress up. It's purple. So purple that it is the color of a grape flavored Popsicle. It's so dark it could be mistaken as black. It's swollen, too, and looks like it has pus.

"Get her ice please." I whisper to Peeta.

He disappears and comes back with an ice pack and a purple band-aid with ointment on it. He sweeps strands of her off her forehead. "Here baby." He puts the purple bandaid on her forehead. I take the ice and put it on her ribs. It's really hot to the touch.

"It's hurts mommy." Morgan whimpers. Mom walks into the kitchen to get more ice for her eye.

"I know baby, I know." I take her left hand and rub small circles on the back of her hand. Dad is on the phone, Peeta has her right hand and is rubbing circles on it and Morgan is whining and everyone is huddling neither their significant others. Parker is being held tightly by Peeta.

"I'm scared." Morgan whispers.

"How long ago did this happen?" I demand.

"Well the officer left about a half hour before you and Peeta got here. Whoever it was went right into the forest. They were on foot and I sliced their ankle so they couldn't have gotten far." Dad narrows his eyes. I move Morgan to Peeta's lap and stomp downstairs to the basement.

How dare that bitch try to kill kids. To put them in pain.

I grab my old bow and arrows and get my old hunting boots and dad's jacket he gave to me, re braid my hair and job back up the stairs.

"No." Peeta lays Morgan down on the couch. "No way." He shakes his head and walks over to me. "Don't go." I give him a long kiss.

"I'll be okay." I whisper.

"Katniss please." He begs.

"They tried to kill our kids. They put them in pain. I'm not going hurt them. I'm just going to catch them." I walk out the back door.

...9...

The sun is starting to come up and I stop short when I see a trace of blood on a tree. I stop short. It looks like someone tried and failed to get rid of it, and instead smeared it. I touch it and see my finger has blood on it.

It's fresh. I creep forward and follow the drops of blood. I stop short when I see a girl who looks like a spitting image of Sara Ascot sitting on a rock, pale, trying desperately to stop the bleeding. I hide behind a rock and see the knife that has my child's blood on it sitting next to her. Her hand is positioned so I can shoot it.

Slowly, I creep up behind her and silently steel the knife. She doesn't even notice. There is a river. I toss the knife over her head into the water. Her entire body goes rigid. I silent load my bow.

"Your family really hates me." I laugh softly. "And I've never done anything to them." She whips around to face me. "You kidnapped my two day old daughter. You got taken to jail and I'm guessing you escaped. Is that right?" She looks at the tip of my arrow and shudders.

"Yes I escaped." She hisses.

"Ah, and then you come an try to kill my kids. You seem lovely. It's no wonder your not wearing a ring." She stands up.

"Your cousin killed my sister." She says calmly.

"Your sister shot my son and took me for six months and tortured me." I reply, just as calm as she is.

"You don't deserve happiness." She says.

"And why's that?" I ask. "Because I'm not in love with your deceased sister? Because she's dead?"

"Because she loved you with all her heart and she turned you down-" she starts to shout.

"She kidnapped me on my birthday and tortured me for three months! My husband-"

"Whatever. You deserved all of that."

I pull back the string on my bow. "You come with me or I kill you." I threaten.

She looks down at her ankle. "I doubt I'll make it." She says. It happens so fast that I'm surprised.

She rips the bow and arrows from my hands and throws them aside. I make a lunge for them but she gets her knife from the river and pins me to the ground. I thrash around but she pins my wrists down. Then she plunges the blade into my arm. I almost keep my mouth shut but a scream escapes my lips.

UNKNOWN POV

Of course I followed her. She doesn't know it but I followed her. I hear a scream of pain and fear that makes my heart accelerate.

Hell no. She means too much to so many people, me included, and I don't let her die. I break into a run with my shotgun in my hand.

Well technically it is Mr. Everdeen's shotgun. I burst through the trees and see a knife being ripped from Katniss's arm and pressed against her throat. "I don't know what my sister saw in you." The girl whispers.

I set the gun down and step out into the open. Katniss thrashes around and the girl presses the knife harder to her throat. A squeak comes out of her. I lunge forward and grab the girl by the good of her jacket and rip the knife from her hand.

"Don't touch her!" I shout. "She means more to most people and you don't mean a thing to nobody! She means everything to my girlfriend!"

"Please don't kill me." She whimpers. I grab the girls rope off the ground and tie her hands and tie the rope around her waist.

"I won't kill you." I reply. I look at Katniss as I tie the rope connected to the girl around my wrist. She grabs the bow and arrow and takes her shirt off, leaving her in nothing but her bra. She ties her shirt around her arm. Then she walks over to the girl and takes an arrow and cuts a deep cut in her arm.

"You hurt my kids and you're lucky I haven't killed you." She hisses. She walks alongside me and I notice how pale she has gotten and how she keeps tripping. The girl is probably on deaths door but I don't care about her. I pick Kat up and walk the rest of the way. Her boobs are basically out of her bra but it doesn't bother me because I've got Johanna and she is the only girl that will ever get me hard. "Trace…" She whispers.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Thank you."

Then her eyes slide shut.

I pick up the pace, and halfway through, the girl falls down. I check her pulse to find it's gone.

She's dead. I hoist her body over my shoulder and check Katniss's pulse. It's still going strong but something is telling me she's unconscious.

I continue my trek for a half hour and when the sun is all the way in the sky, the house comes into my view. I drop the girl's body out of the way of any windows and leave her there. The last thing that anybody wants to see is a dead body.

I walk in the broken back door. Peeta looks the most worried by far, and right when I'm all the way in the door, Katniss is taken right from my arms. "Trace!" Johanna runs into my arms. "I was so worried!"

"I know." I kiss her head. "I'm sorry."

PEETA'S POV

Motionless; that's all I get. The only thing that moves on her body is the rise and fall of her chest.

"Where's the bitch that did this to her?" I ask, so angry I can't control myself.

"D-E-A-D." Trace spells out.

"Did Katniss…." I trail off.

"No. She cut her arm real good though, but she B-L-E-D out." Trace replies.

"Where's the…you know." I ask.

"Right outside," Katniss has her arm tied with her shirt but she's soaked the shirt completely in blood and it's dripping onto my arm.

"Mrs. Everdeen." I say desperately.

"On it Peeta, don't worry, she'll be okay. She doesn't even have to go to the hospital. I told you to call me Lily or Mom."

"Right." I sigh.

"Someone call the police." Johanna says. Finnick pulls out his phone.

They came last night after Katniss left and I answered the questions best I could. Morgan is refusing to sleep and she won't let go of my hand. Even now, she's sitting next to me holding my hand in her tiny one. I touch Katniss's cheek and find it cold and she's pale. "Annie honey?" Mrs. Everdeen asks.

"Yes mom?" Annie asks. Finnick and Annie call Kat's parents Mom and Dad, and sometimes I do to. They don't mind.

"Take the kids upstairs?" She asks.

She nods and takes Morgan and Noah's hands and walks upstairs and then comes back down for Parker. "Peeta darling, lay Katniss on the table."

"I'll go get her a shirt or something-" Finnick starts.

"Don't." I tell him as I tug my shirt off. "I'll put it on when she's all cleaned up." I lay Katniss on the coffee table. Mrs. Everdeen walks into the kitchen and comes back with a bucket and a washcloth and a needle and thread and peroxide and bandaging. I force myself to stay and watch ads she unties Katniss's shirt and sets it on the floor. She washes it off and sighs in what sounds like relief.

"We're lucky, very, very lucky. She didn't cut any veins. She just missed, actually. She keeps wiping off the wound. She douses it in peroxide and waits until the white goes away and does it again and again until she's satisfied. She wipes the wound off again and starts to stitch it. She finish it and douses it in peroxide again, wipes it off and then wraps it in a bandage.

Then she grabs the bucket of red water and the bloody shirt and walks into the kitchen. "Peeta? What should I do with her shirt?" she asks.

I think for a minute and remember that is one of her favorite shirts. "Is there a way to save it?" I ask.

"What's the colors?" she asks.

"White." I reply.

"Oh we'll just bleach it." She walks away again. I sit Katniss up and Finnick slides my shirt on her. "Just keep her on the table until she wakes up." Mrs. Everdeen sets a cup of water on the side table and we all wait around. "Annie you and the kids can come down now!" Mrs. Everdeen calls. Morgan and Noah come barreling down the stairs.

"Is mommy dead?" Morgan asks as she starts crying.

"No, she's just…sleeping." I reply. Both my kids take one of my hands and lean their heads against my arms. Annie sits with Finnick and Parker, Johanna and Trace stay joined together and everyone sits around too. The police get here soon.

"Does she need medical attention?" the man points to Katniss.

"She's alright." Mrs. Everdeen says. "I'm a nurse. She's good."

"Okay." He takes Trace out back with him.

They're only here a few minutes. They take the body without the kids seeing and leave.

Then we sit in a long, loud, suffocating silence.

I don't know how much time passes. It must be noon by now.

"I'm gonna go make lunch." Mrs. Everdeen sighs and walks into the kitchen.

Minutes later, I look back at Katniss and I _swear to god _she moved.

Then she moans and rolls over and falls face first on the floor, crushing her arm. She cries out in pain and struggles to get up before falling back to the floor and moaning in pain again and letting out a whimper, clearly giving up. I stand up and lift her off the floor. Her good hand look like it's searching for something. Then she mumbles, "Who's touching me?"

"It's just me." I whisper.

"Oh." She sighs, clearly relived. "My arm hurts." She whispers.

"I know it does."

"What happened to me?" she mumbles.

"What's the last thing you remember?" I ask.

"Screaming." She mumbles.

"Well basically I found you and brought you and the girl here. You passed out along the way and you tied your shirt around your arm-"

"Dammit." She mumbles. "I love that t-shirt."

"Well we can fix it so it's okay." I sit down and run my fingers through her hair. She's sitting with her head on my chest.

"So yeah…I brought you home and your mom fixed you up."

"And Sara's sister?" she asks.

"D-E-A-D."

"I killed her?" she asks.

"She bled out."

"And now what happens?" she asks.

"You stay here and never leave my sight." I whisper, kissing the top of her head.

"My head hurts." She mumbles. I grab her water.

"Hey, look at me." I whisper.

"No…" she sighs. "I don't want to."

"Please?" I ask. She slowly lifts her head so her gray eyes meet mine. I hand her the glass of water but she's lost too much blood and her hand is trembling so badly that she slashes water all over me.

"Sorry." She whispers. "I…I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to." I take the glass from her hands and raise it to her lips. She drinks the entire glass. "You don't have to baby Me." she mumbles. I tuck waves of dark hair behind her ear, her eyes sliding closed until my hand leaves contact with her skin.

"I like babying you." I kiss her cheek. "Correction," I put my hand up. "I love babying you." She smiles a tired smile and looks at Noah who has fallen asleep. Then she looks at Noah because he has fallen asleep too.

She yawns and drops her hands to my chest. I run my fingers through her hair. She rests her head on my shoulder and drifts off to sleep.


	18. Chapter 18

I'm getting worried at how much she's sleeping. It's been two days and she has woken up to eat, shower and go to the bathroom.

"She's making me nervous." Johanna blurts.

"Me too." I sigh.

"Oh she's fine," Mrs. Everdeen waves us off. "She'll come around."

Morgan comes downstairs, "I want mommy!" She starts crying.

"I know baby, we all do." I sigh. Katniss has taken up the entire couch and every time I try to move her she mumbles 'go away'.

"I think she's dead." Morgan says.

"She's not dead." Mrs. Everdeen sighs.

"Then why isn't she waking up!" Noah screams.

"She will wake up." Mrs. Everdeen says.

"No she won't!" Noah screams back.

"Noah. Be nice." I warn.

"Do you not care mommy's dead?" He asks.

"Shes not dead." I reply.

"YES SHE IS SHE WONT WAKE UP SHES DEAD!" Noah screams.

"Noah." Katniss says. She's awake and I didn't even notice. "Do I look dead to you?" She stands up and stretches.

"Well you were dead then because you weren't waking up." Noah crosses his arms stubbornly.

"I wasn't dead." She laughs. "You are so stubborn."

"So are you." He sticks his tongue out.

"You get it from me." She ruffles his hair and walks away upstairs.

When she's comes down her hair is flowing down her back and it's damp which tells me she showered and blow dried it. She's in white skinny jeans and a tight red tank top.

God her boobs look nice in that.

I distract myself with nasty thoughts to keep from getting hard.

KATNISS'S POV

I make eye contact with Peeta and see his eyes are dark. I can't help flushing bright red at the thought of what he wishes we were doing right now. He looks down and as I pass him to the kitchen he inhales sharply.

Why did he do that? I frown and walk into the kitchen to rummage around in the cabinet. "Mom do you have something I can't burn?" I ask.

"Not really hon, sorry." She replies.

I sigh and rummage through the refrigerator but give up and shut it.

Peeta places his hand on my shoulder and spins me around so I am pressed against the door of the fridge, out of view from anyone. "What would you do if I told you I went to a sperm doner and got myself pregnant?" I whisper right up against his lips. He jerks back, startled.

"What?" He asks loudly. I burst into hysterics.

"I'm kidding! Oh god, you should have seen your face!" I laugh so hard and end up laying down on the floor laughing. He reaches down and pulls me to my feet. He looks like he's going to scold me or something but I am laughing so loudly that he cracks a smile. It takes a good long five minutes to get me to stop laughing.

Then, he picks me up by my ass and sets me on the counter, standing right in front of me, his lips less than an inch from mine. "I love you." He whispers, his lips brushing mine as he speaks. "I love you so much."

His eyes search mine and my eyes search his as I whisper back, "I love you too. So much." I place my arms around his neck, my fingers playing with the hair there. We don't move for a long time, we just stare at each other. My anger wells higher and higher each time I blink. His hand slides up my side to cup my cheek.

"Why are you angry? Your eyes are really dark." He whispers, his lips brushing mine again.

"I can't stop blinking." I whisper. "It's no fair." He laughs quietly.

"Close your eyes." He whispers.

"Why?" I murmur.

"Just do it." He replies. I slowly glide my eyes shut. "Don't move." He picks me up and starts to walk. "She fell asleep again. I'm taking her upstairs."

"Okay." Mom replies. It's clear she knows that we're just looking for some time alone. The kids are going to end up falling asleep soon anyways.

Peeta starts walking again. Up the stairs and into a room, the one we're staying in. I hear the door shut and the lock click, and then he lays me down on the bed and rolls me onto my side. "Open your eyes." He whispers.

I open my eyes and find we are staying in my old bedroom, which hasn't change even a little bit. "Do you know what I used to do in here? I have many secrets, Peeta."

PEETAS POV

"What did you used to do in here baby?" I ask. She gets up and rips back the carpet rug. Her room is hardwood. She digs her hand under one of the floorboards and lifts it up. Then she searches around and reaches in and grabs something.

A vibrator.

Oh fuck. "You used to do that?" I ask. Her cheeks so slightly red and she starts playing with her hair.

"Don't tell anyone." She whispers, embarrassed.

"Katniss..." I grit my teeth as I stare at her.

"I..." She bites her lip and grabs the vibrator and tosses it in the floorboard again and covers it with the carpet.

"Where did you get one of those?" I grab her ass and pull her on top of me.

"Johanna..." She mumbles. "She said I was pissed because I never had an orgasm. The next day and came over and dropped it in my hand. We got into a fistfight. I remember wondering what it was like..." She hides her face in my

Chest. "So I tried it..."

"And?" I press.

"And it was good but everything is much better with you being the one doing it to me."

"Damn that's hot." I whisper. She chuckles and looks up at me.

"Promise me you won't ever tell any other person on this planet even if we did break up? Johanna doesn't even know I used it. She thinks I threw it away. Don't tell anybody Peeta. Please?"

"I won't tell anyone baby." I run my fingers through her hair. "I promise." I whisper.

"And I remember one time...god I was stupid. I skipped my period and I was nauseous and I started crying because I thought I was pregnant." I laugh quietly. "But it was because I was really irregular back then. I was nauseous because I hadn't eaten."

"How old we're you the first time?" I ask.

"Um..." She hides her face again. "Uh..."

"Ten?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Eleven?" She shakes her head again. "Twelve?"

She doesn't respond. "Jesus Kat!" I laugh. "Twelve years old?"

"Shut up!" She moans. "How old we're you Mr perfect?"

"Well remember that day I told you I found out I loved you?" I ask.

She nods.

"That night in the shower I did it..."

"So how old? Eleven?"

"Yes..." I trail off. She sits up. She always sits over my groin and doesn't notice.

"So you think I'm bad because I did it at twelve! Your the bad one! Dammit Peeta, eleven years old!" She smacks my chest playfully. "Fuck you Mellark." She mumbles.

"Okay." I pull her tank top over her head.

"No." She places her hands on my shoulders. "These walls are not soundproof. Hell no, Peeta."

"But..." I eye her tits. "They look so nice and beautiful." I brush my hand over them.

"No." She says strictly. "No way." I'm sitting up and she's right pressed against me. She tugs her tank top back on and pounces on me. "Let's make out though." Her lips collide with mine.

...9...

We ended up having sex. I'm teasing her about it and she keeps glaring at me.

"You can lay in such weird positions and it really creeps me me out." Finnick says. Katniss snickers. Right now her legs are on the back of the couch and her head is on the door and she's searching through photos on Pinterest.

She sighs loudly, clearly thinking something. "I want to go shopping." She mumbles.

"Go shopping." I reply.

"Why can't you be like that Finnick?" Annie demands.

"You don't want to go shopping." He replies.

"I always want to go shopping!" She shrieks.

"It's not normal shopping." She mumbles.

"What kind of shopping?" I frown. She pats the floor next to her.

"No get up." I reply. She shoves her phone in her bra and holds her hand out to me. I stare at it for a long time. "Your lucky I love you. If you were anyone else I would make you get up by yourself." I grumble. I pull her hand and she doesn't even try to help me. "Kat!" I say. She stares at me innocently. I drop her hand.

"Peeta!" She whines. I grab her ankles and pull her up so she's dangling. "Hey!" She gasps.

"How is your phone not falling out of your bra?" Rye asks. We all look up to see my family walking in the door.

"Her boobs are big enough to hold it." I explain. She reaches in her bra and grabs her phone.

"Put me down!" She throws her phone at my dick and misses. It shoots back and gets her in the breast.

"Ow!" She yelps. "Peeta!" She screams. "Put...me...down!" She grabs her phone and throws it at me again and it shoots back and gets her in the breast again. "Ow! Peeta!"

"I didn't do anything!" I laugh.

"Put me down!" She wiggles around and I just laugh.

"Is that how you ask?"

"Please?" She begs.

"Nope." She makes a grab for her phone and pegs it at me and this time she doesn't miss. I don't let her go and ignore the pain.

"If you don't let go I'll show everyone what you insist is only for your eyes." She threatens.

Her breasts. They're mine and mine only.

And I don't want my brothers and cousins horny eyes on them.

"You wouldn't dare." I threaten. She slips her shirt off and flings it at me.

"Wanna bet?" She asks. She reaches behind her and I release her ankles and grab her before she hits the floor. When she's facing me the clasp comes undone and I reach behind her and lock it again. She crosses her arms stubbornly across her chest. I grab her shirt.

"Put this on." I hold it out to her.

"No." She says stubbornly.

I know her and I know she isn't going to do as I say till I apologize.

"Look," I cup her cheek. "I'm sorry, okay?" She leans into my hand and shuts her eyes for a moment.

"I'm sorry too." She whispers. She opens her eyes and takes the shirt and slips it over her head. Then she wraps her arms around my middle and pulls me against her. I hug her back. "Come shopping with me?" She whispers. "Please?" She lifts her head so her chin is on my chest.

KATNISS'S POV

"You know Katniss." Dad says. "You bother me sometimes." I frown and release Peeta and turn around.

"How?" I ask.

Mom looks at Dad and she sighs as if she knows something is going to go wrong. "Well you have two kids and I mean they've been through hell and back because of you and that Ascot family and you go and hunt down the girl and get yourself stabbed and expect your husband to do everything for you."

I open my mouth to reply because nothing comes out. Peeta's hands lock with mine because he knows my mood went from amazing to terrible. "Ethan don't do this."

Mom hisses.

"Like your any better. Do you think I don't know it's my fault? I have spent night of night crying my eyes out, locking in the bathroom because I wish I could change things! I don't deserve Peeta and I know that and yeah, my kids need a better mother. But you know what? I'm trying. I'm trying to make it better. I spent a lot of my life with Prim dealing with shit from you and I vowed to myself I will never be a repeat of you."

"Well, your failing." Dad says. "Sure I fucked up but you've never been shot because of me and you've never been beaten because of me. Especially not at this age. I've been thinking about getting custody of the kids."

"What does that mean?" Morgan asks fearfully.

"It means Grandpa and Grandma want to be your new mommy and dads and you'll never see us again." Peeta says.

"No!" Noah screams. "No!" He grabs Morgan's arm and moves to hide behind Peet and I.

"Ethan your retarded." Mom says. "None of this is Katniss or Peeta's fault! This is Sara Ascots fault! Don't go blaming Peeta and Katniss for something out of their control."

"Don't you care that your grandson has been shot?"

"He got shot by Sara Ascot." Mom replies.

"And your granddaughter got beaten-"

"By Sara's sister when YOU were watching her!"

"Because you two insisted on leaving!"

"We did not! We weren't even thinking about it until you insisted!" I snap back.

"If you were smart you wouldn't have left."

"Your insane." Johanna hisses.

"Peeta." I hiss. "Get your things. We're leaving."

"Now your going to run away." Dad laughs.

"No, I'm keeping my kids away from maniac like you!"

"No Katniss. Don't go." Mom pleads.

"Sorry." I pick up Morgan and takes Noah's hand. Peeta puts his hand on my back and leads me and the kids up the stairs.

I get my old suitcase and start grabbing everything that has any meaning and tossing it in. I get everything from under the floorboards and anything that could mean something.

"Can we go somewhere else before we go home after Washington?" Peeta asks. I shrug in reply.


	19. Chapter 19

PEETA'S POV

She's worried me. We've gone to New York and to Washington and she isn't talking too much. When she thinks everyone's asleep, I can hear her crying and it's breaking my heart because everything her Dad said is wrong. She is an excellent mother and she tries her best. Sara Ascot and her sister fucked up a lot of things. Allison pulled me aside years ago when she got home and she told me that no matter what they'll never to fully bring her all the way back. Katniss doesn't know and I've kept my mouth shut but I notice how she'll clench her fists sometimes and her eyes with go dark and she'll bite her cheek. How she looks at me like I'm the only person that ever existed. She wishes she killed Sara. She doesn't ever say it but I know she wishes she killed her. I still see the way she can't look at needles or she's afraid of something hot enough to burn you and she still doesn't particularly like spoons and she isn't a big fan of fires. She doesn't really like closets either. I wish so much that I could have been the one that was taken and tortured. She doesn't deserve that. She never deserved that.

I hate her father for saying those things. He's wrong.

It's well past dark now and she's awake with her head on the car window. Annie and Finnick and Parker ad Johanna and Trace and the kids are asleep. "Peeta?" she whispers.

"Hmm?"" I reach for her hand.

"I'm sorry for messing our family up. I understand if you…want to take the kids and…leave me on the side of the road." I look at her in surprise.

"Katniss…" I whisper. She looks at me with tears sliding down her cheeks. Allison said she cries a lot because of the shit she went through and she has trouble controlling her emotions.

"I'm sorry." She drops my hand and pulls her knees to her chest. "I'm so sorry for messing everything up." My eyes flick to the mirror and see that even though we're being quiet we've woken everyone but the three kids. I don't let her know that.

"You didn't mess anything up." I whisper.

"Yes I did…the shit that Noah and Morgan has had to go through is my fault."

"It is not your fault!" I pull over and turn all the way to face her. "Why the hell are you letting your dad get to you? He's a fucking idiot! You've been through hell and back and he doesn't give a shit! He doesn't care! He probably faked that damn apology to get back into your fucking head and you're letting him do it! You're not a terrible mother! You're an excellent mother and you will do anything for the kids! You didn't mess anything up! Sara messed everything up! You have no reason to be upset about this because your dad is wrong!"

"Well I don't believe you because my Dad is right."

"No he's not! He's not right! Why the hell are you listening to him! I know he apologized but he took everything important away from you and now he's taking your happiness! I won't let it happen! Stop listening to him because he doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"I could have gotten away…I could've-"

"You would have gotten yourself killed if you tried to run!"

"I just want to forget…I don't want her to bother me anymore…"

"So stop letting her bother you. Think about other things. Talk to me Katniss. We can get therapy or something. Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He wasn't even there for you when this crap happened because he got himself thrown in jail."

"I don't…I'm not good with trusting people…" she mumbles. "And I don't trust a therapist."

"Do you trust me?" I whisper. She bites her lip. "Kat?"

"Yes." She whispers.

"So you can talk to me. You don't have to go to a therapist."

"You won't tell anybody?" she raises her head to lock eyes with me. "Right?"

"Right." I reach for her hand again, and after a moment's hesitation, she places hers in mine.

Slowly, without breaking eye contact, I raise her hand to my lips. "I promise." I whisper.

…a…

Needless to say I'm very pleased to see that everyone is sleeping when we pass the _Welcome to California_ sign. I've never been and neither has any of us but I've always wanted to go. They sleep the whole ride to our hotel, which is on the beach. "Hey! Wake up guys!" I say loudly. Katniss wakes first and looks around.

"Where are we?" she mumbles, rubbing her eyes. We spent a week in each place and we're spending a week here so we'll be gone from home for a month. We're paying the neighbors to take care of the farm. She looks at the coean and wrinkles her nose. "Are we in Florida?"

"No." I reply.

"Califnornia?" Finnick asks tiredly.

"Yeah." Katniss's eyes light up.

"We're in California?" she asks.

"Mm hmm."

"Let's go to the beach…after you sleep some." It's eleven in the morning, and surprisingly I'm not tired a bit.

"To be honest, I'm really not tired."

Since it's been a while since she got the stitches she already got them taken out and the cut has turned into a scar. That's because Mrs. Everdeen doused that thing in some weird smelling ointment and it's worked and that's why it healed that quickly.

"Are you sure?" Annie asks.

"Positive." I reply. Katniss gets out of the car and stretches. Everyone's files out behind her. "Let's go check in and then go to the beach!"

…a…

KATNISS'S POV

Morgan dragged me with her to the wet sand so I would build a sandcastle with her. Peeta and Noah are helping and so are Travis and Johanna and Finn and Ann and Parker. "Look!" Morgan points out at the water where dolphins are jumping. "Let's go play with them!"

"We can't." Peeta explains. She frowns.

"Why not?"

"Because they're free and we're not allowed to."

"Okay." She digs through the dirt. I hear someone walk past and whisper

"I swear that's Katniss Mom, doesn't she look exactly like her?" I don't find myself getting upset. I'm used to being recognized.

The mom whispers back, "Your right Katie that does look like Katniss."The girl sighs and says

"I really love her. She's so beautiful and her voice is amazing."I don't act like I can hear them but all of us are listening in.

"You have pictures of her on your wall right?"the mom asks.

"Yes." The girl, Katie replies.

"So go and say hi." The mom says.

"Mom, no way! She doesn't want to talk to me. Besides, we don't even know if it is her. There are seven people in the world that look exactly like you and this is obviously one of them."

"What if it is her and you find out? You'll cry if you realize you saw her and didn't get to say hi. Katie I hear you playing that video Katniss's cousin posted over and over and over again." her mom says. My back is to her and I can't help but smile a little bit.

"I still don't want to…I'm scared." Katie whispers.

"Hey Katniss look at the dolphins!" Johanna says loudly. Instinctively I look up.

"Mommy I want to pet one." Morgan whines.

"Maybe we can take you to an aquarium so you can pet one, okay?" I ask.

"Mom, oh my god, that really is her." Katie whispers.

"Katie, I think you need to go say hi." Her mom whispers back.

"Mom I'm just scared. She doesn't like me."

"She has never even spoken to you!"

"Mom I'm ugly and she's…gorgeous."

"Katie Heeder! You are _not_ ugly!"

"Compared to her, yes I am! She makes every girl look hideous! She's like the sun! She's so stunning and I'm just…not. Just because that girl called her Katniss doesn't mean we know that's actually her!"

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this." Her mother says.

"No Mom!" Katie pleads.

"Excuse me?" the mother asks behind me. I look over my shoulder.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Are you Katniss Mellark? My daughter loves you." she gestures to her kid who must be sixteen. She has long blond hair and blue eyes and she's probably as tall as Annie and in a black bikini looking extremely nervous. She is pretty.

I think everyone is beautiful in their own way. I smile and stand up. "That's me." I smile. "It's nice to meet you."

She looks frozen and it takes everything in me not to laugh. "Your amazing." She blurts. "I…I mean…"

"She's nervous." Her mother saves her.

"Thank you." I smile again. I'm not good at meeting people and I really have never had an encounter with people like this before. I've convinced myself everyone hates me.

"I'm Katie." She looks down, her face going red. "Your…you have an amazing voice. I…I really look up to you. You and your family have been through so much but you always manage to get Dad died last year and it's only me and my mom left in our family and I don't really know what to do anymore and when I feel like breaking down I listen to that song your cousin posted on YouTube. You're just incredible and you have no idea the effect you can have on people. I got bullied really bad and I still do and it affects me and I don't like eating too much and people are really bitter and mean and I don't know how you stay strong the way you do. You are so pretty and I am so…not and you just…you don't even realize how many girls at my school talk about you. You don't realize how many people look up to you and there are a lot of people at my school that have tried to kill themselves before. I heard a girl talking to her friend the other day and she said she almost killed herself and she remembered how much you have gone through and how you stayed strong and you plow through your issues and you're really just incredible…" she bites her lip. "Sorry…I'm probably creeping you out…"

"You're not ugly." I speak up. "You're beautiful. Everybody is beautiful."

"Well the bullies that make everyone feel sad are…they disagree."

"Well the bullies are wrong. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. Don't listen to them. They don't know what they're talking about." She says nothing. "I was bullied too…in high school. It was hard but you have to remember you're meant to be here. You're here alive on earth for something. And uh…McDonalds French fries are pretty good…" she laughs.

"Thank you." she steps closer to me, and very hesitantly she hugs me, and I hug her back. It only lasts a second. "Bye…" she waves and runs away, her mother following her.

I let out a long breath I didn't realize I was holding. Do I really affect people that much?

"She's right, you know." Peeta says. I turn around to see all of them are watching me closely. "You _really_ don't realize the affect you have on people." I sit down in the sand.

"I guess…I think your right." I mumble.

…a…

"Should I really do this or am I just being an idiot?" I ask everyone.

"Do it." Johanna says.

"Yeah Kat, you need to do this." Annie says. We're in the car in front of Katie Heeder's high school which took an arm and a leg to find. They're in class right now.

"Are you guys sure?" I ask.

"Positive." Peeta says.

"I don't know…I'm scared…"

"Don't be scared." Peeta says. "We'll be right outside waiting and Finnick with be with you the whole time."

I bite my lip and look at the school and nod. "Let's go Finn." I get out of the car. Finnick follows me in the door. The secretary shrieks. There is a girl, I can see her in the counselors office, crying.

This is worse than I thought. I press my finger to me lips. "Listen," I whisper. "I meant a girl that goes to this school. She's been bullied."

"A lot of girls and boys that aren't in the ground of five girls get bullied in this school." She whispers.

"Can I talk to the principle?" I ask.

"Right through that door." she points to a door marked _Principle Christine. _

"Thank you." I drag Finnick with me to the door and knock.

I hear a women sigh. "Come in." she says. I open the door and step inside and before she can react, Finnick shuts the door.

"You have no idea how many students here at this school need you." she whispers.

I explain my plan and she nods multiple times. Then she picks up the intercom. "Attention students and staff. Would everyone please make their way to the auditorium at this time? I repeat; will everyone please make their way to the auditorium at this time?" she clicks it off. "Let's wait a bit. A half hour to make sure you and Finnick are not spotted." She says.

We sit around and she gets in contact with the secretary who gets the entire stage set up.

I'm so nervous.

"Alright, let's go." She stands up and leads Finnick and I to the auditorium through the back door. "We've tried everything," she explains as we walk. "We went as far as showing that Cyber Bully movie. The girls that bully the kids just laughed. We've even suspended them and it seemed to just set them off more. I hope to god this works. You have no idea how many of these kids, even the bullies look up to you." The curtains on the stage are closed and I hear a girl laughing at someone else and I feel my anger rise.

The only time I'm ever good with words is when I'm really pissed off about something. This will most definitely be one of those times. "Anyways," he sighs. "Good luck."

I am ushered onto the stage and Finnick will come out when I'm done talking. Slowly, the curtains part, and a lot of people stare at me, more than half of them start crying and then start screaming and the teachers have to hold back some people.

Katie is sitting right in the front row in a sweatshirt and jeans and her eyes widen and her hand slaps over her mouth. I pick up the microphone and wait.

The principle said there are no limitations on my words.

When everyone falls silent, I take a deep breath. "I would introduce myself but I don't think that will be necessary." I say. Silence. "I met a girl. I'm not going to say her name. I'm not going to say what she looked like and I'm not going to say where I met her. She really opened my eyes." More silence, but Katie knows now why I am here. "I didn't realize how cruel and vicious teenagers can be. I mean…I knew they could be terrible…I just didn't realize how bad they could get until I meant this beautiful girl who was insisting she was ugly. But you see; she isn't ugly. Nobody is ugly, not really. Even if you don't believe me, you are not ugly. Everyone is beautiful in their own way. She told me she's been bullied. She told me most of you in here have been bullied. I was bullied. Raise your hands if you were bullied. I just want to see how many of you there are."

No hands rise. "Come on, don't be shy." I raise my hand, and someone in the back does too, and then almost every single hand in the entire room rises. "That's horrible." I say. "To think, there are people in this very room that say mean things and hurt people. But…why would they do that? Does it make them feel better to crush every bit of happiness a girl or boy has? I was told I have no limitations on my words. I just wanted to let you know, the bullies out there, that I'm ashamed of you. You…you piss me off." Eyes widen and heads turn. "You have no right whatsoever to go around and make people feel horrible about themselves. Do you see how many people in here are wearing sweatshirts? They don't want to show themselves. The world is a cruel, cruel place. To all the people out there that have been bullied, I want to tell you a story. I want you to hear me out and I want you to stay strong and just listen to me. Can you do that?"

"Yes!" a loud chorus of shouts says.

"Alright, there was a girl. She was born into a family she thought was amazing. She had a best friend who was practically her bother and they did _everything _together. They had sleepovers and shared toys and everything." Peeta, Annie, Parker, Johanna, Trace, Morgan and Noah walk into the room silently. The principle is behind them. Peeta winks and I feel my confidence rise. They know the whole plan. "They got older. The girl and her best friend. At the girls age five and the boys age six, they were playing outside with the boys two older brothers. The girls mother and the boys mother were arguing. Then, the boys mother came outside and collected her boys and left. The girl never saw her best friend again." Everyone is quiet, listening intently. "The girl was so sad. At five years old she cried herself to sleep each night and she was so...depressed. Years passed. At age seven she met a girl and a boy in school and they became inseparable. The girl was happy again. They grew up together. When the girl got into high school she was so excited. She was so happy to finally be in high school with the cool kids. The girl was walking to her class in sophomore year and ran into a girl on accident. From that day forward, the girl was bullied. She hated life. She was so sad and she wanted to cut herself. She wanted to die. But she didn't. She stopped. She realized that no girl out there can possibly know what she is really like. She ignored the bullies." People are starting to look confident. "She was happy and she smiled all the time and she had a loving family. She moved out for college and she graduated early. At either twenty or twenty one, she moved to Brooklyn, New York. The was walking home from work one day when she bumped into a boy that was extremely familiar. She couldn't put her finger on it and the boy swore he knew her. They separated paths and the next day she went home to her parents house with her two best friends. She asked her parents about the boy and they told her it was her best friend that left when she was only five years old. She was so upset. Her parents made her go to the place the boy grew up and found everyone was there but the boy. The boys family and her family made up and the girl left and ran to the lake the girl and boy used to play in and cried her eyes out. Somebody came up behind her and it was the boy. He gave her a hug and made her stop crying. Then the girl got into a fight with her family and went home. They ended up going to the boys house for forth of July and made out in his backyard." A few people laugh. "His family and her family showed up and they celebrated. The girl left because her dad was upsetting her and the boy followed. He walked her to the door and they ended up going to 'third base' if you will." Laughter again. "They started dating and they were happy. Things with the girl and her father got worse and the boy and the girl and the girls two best friends and her cousin were at the girls store she worked so hard to get and the girls famy showed up. She got into a really bad fight with her dad and he burned down her store. The girl was upset. The dad went to jail and the girl found out he had been beating her sister and mother. The girl and the boy got into a stupid fight about a burnt cake and they broke up. They got back together after a month and the boy had moved to Washington so the girl went with him. On the girls birthday she went outside to get her phone charger and she was kidnapped by an insane girl who was in love with the girl. She girl was famous because her cousin posted a video. She didn't want to be famous. She hated it. She was taken for months and was tortured. She was in the hospital and when she went home she found out she was pregnant. Long story shirt, the girl and boy the got married and had their son. The girl caught her husband sucking face with some bitch and she took her son and left. Two years later at her best friends wedding she heard her son screaming and the place went silent and she saw a guy kneeling next to her son who was bleeding. The girl helped her son up after asking what happened the guy who was kneeling beside him had said that he fell. It was her husband. She started crying and her son told her to stop and she wanted to lie and she didn't. She apologized and took her son to clean him up. She found out the girl the guy was kissing had been harassing her husband since she got kidnapped. They got back together and moved in with each other again. They were happy till a family reunion came around. The girl that took her shot her son. The girl and the boy had another kid who got beaten. Her father who came back into the family and was forgiven blamed the girl. She was upset and didn't talk much for two weeks before her husband and her had a talk and she got over it. The girl had been through hell and back. She's still alive and okay. That girl was me."

People are crying. "I went through hell and I was bullied and tortured and I have needle scars all over me and I have nightmares sometimes and I got stabbed and I blamed myself for destroying my family but it's not my fault. It's Sara Ascots fault. If I can make it through all of that and still be happy, then you guys can make it through bitches trying to make you feel worthless. I know you think your not loved and nobody cares but you are so wrong. I love you. All of you. There is always somebody out there who loves you. You are loved. You are beautiful. You are worth life. Don't let bullies define you. Define yourself."

I'm done. I don't know what else to say.

Nobody says anything but Peeta suddenly shouts, "That's my girl!" And starts clapping and everyone starts clapping with him. Finnick comes out onto the stage and walks up next to me. "Now, for those of you that don't know, this is my best friend Finnick. We're gonna do two little songs for you guys."

People start getting super excited.

Finnick squeezes my shoulder and makes his way to the drums and I pick up the guitar and put the microphone down on the stand and start to strum. I'm so nervous.

_Made a wrong turn_

_Once or twice_

_Dug my way out_

_Blood and fire_

_Bad decisions_

_That's alright_

_Welcome to my silly life_

_Mistreated_

_Misplaced_

_Misunderstood_

_Miss no way it's all good_

_It didn't slow me down._

_Mistaken_

_Always second guessing_

_Underestimated_

_Look I'm still around_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_Don't you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're less than_

_Less than perfect_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_If you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're nothing_

_Less than perfect_

_You're so mean_

_When you talk_

_About yourself, you were wrong_

_Change the voices in your head_

_Make them like you instead_

_So complicated_

_Look how we all make it_

_Filled with so much hatred_

_Such a tired game_

_It's enough_

_I've done all I can think of_

_Chased down all my demons_

_I've seen you do the same_

_Oh_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_Don't you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're less than_

_Fucking perfect_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_If you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're nothing_

_You're perfect to me_

_The whole worlds scared_

_So I swallow the fear_

_The only thing I should be drinking_

_Is an ice cold beer_

_So cool in line_

_And we try, try, try_

_But we try too hard_

_And it's a waste of my time_

_Done looking for the critics_

_Cause they're everywhere_

_They don't like my jeans_

_They don't get my hair_

_Exchange ourselves_

_And we do it all the time_

_Why do we do that?_

_Why do I do that?_

_Why do I do that?_

_Yeeeeaaaahhh_

_Oooooooh_

_Oh baby pretty please_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_Don't you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're less than_

_Fucking perfect_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_If you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're nothing_

_You're fucking perfect to me_

_You're perfect, you're perfect_

_Pretty, pretty please_

_If you ever, ever feel_

_Like you're nothing_

_You're perfect to me_

Right before they start cheering I start strumming the next and last song. Someone had gotten my speech and everything on video.

_Do you ever go to lunch with no one by your side_

_Cause the moment you arrive they all leave the table_

_Calling me everything but my name_

_Need I remind you again just call me Rachel_

_How would you feel if you running home crying_

_Lock yourself in your room, don't want anyone to see ya_

_While everyone's having fun outside, and you're telling yourself_

_I won't let it get to me no more_

_I don't wanna feel this way_

_I can't believe I let it go so far_

_No no, it's not okay_

_What do you know about me?_

_Do you wanna know what I think?_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_I'm a just comb you outta my curls_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_You no longer run my world_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_I'm a just comb you outta my curls_

_How would you feel every time you go to school_

_Someone's looking at you weird calling you a loser_

_All these girls wearing bubble-gum pink_

_Guess I didn't get the memo_

_Cause they're laughing at my blue shirt_

_Well I hope you feeling good about you treating someone you know like a perfect stranger_

_Cause it's easier than standing by my side_

_Ohhh_

_I won't let it get to me no more_

_I don't wanna feel this way_

_I can't believe I let it go so far_

_No no, it's not okay_

_What do you know about me?_

_Do you wanna know what I think?_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_I'm a just comb you outta my curls_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_You no longer run my world_

_Who do you think you are_

_Loud mouth, cafeteria star_

_Maybe somebody was cruel to you_

_So you think that's what you're supposed to do_

_One day, it might be you_

_When you need a friend, but you no longer cool_

_When everyone leaves when you walk in the room_

_I just hope they forgive you_

_I won't let it get to me no more_

_I don't wanna feel this way_

_I can't believe I let it go so far_

_No no, it's not okay_

_What do you know about me?_

_Do you wanna know what I think?_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_I'm a just comb you outta my curls_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_You no longer run my world_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_I'm a just comb you outta my curls_

_Mean girls, mean girls_

_You no longer run my world_

I put down the microphone and everyone is cheering and a lot of the people are crying. I wait till they quiet down. "Stop bullying." I say. I put the guitar back on the stand. "And um...if anyone wants a hug or something I won't bite you..." I bite my lip.

Katnis gets up first and runs up to the stage with tears running down her cheeks and pulls me into a tight hug, crying her eyes out. "Thank you so much." She whispers.

"It was nothing." I whisper.

A ton more people file onto the stage. Only five bitches don't. I make sure to shoot them a glare before I walk off the stage. Peeta pulls me into a giant hug in front of everyone and I hear a lot of the girls saying how they love our relationship and how we're adorable.

I'm glad I let everyone talk me into doing this.

...9...

Needless to say, I'm happy when I walk into our house. The press has been following us all over because someone posted the video of me at the school online and it's become viral.

I walk around for a long time as the kids fall asleep. Morgan is in her own bed. Peeta disappeared a whole ago. I go upstairs and unpack my suitcase and then lay down on the bed for a moment and end up falling asleep.

...9...

Peeta woke me to eat dinner and I slept the rest of the night and only woke up when Peeta came in. He whispered how we finally have the bed to ourselves and for the first time in forever, he held me tightly in his arms as we slept.

I woke up at two in the morning to find him hard against my leg.

I took the opportunity and we made love.

I wake again at four thirty.

It's pointless going back to sleep now anyways.

I stare at Peeta who has me pulled against him, both of us nude. The blankets are on the floor and I'm overjoyed the door is locked because there is nothing covering us. "Hey," I run my fingers through his hair. "Baby," I kiss him and he startles awake. He looks down at our state and, instead of turning red like he used to, he pulls me closer.

"I love you." He mumbles. I rest my head against his chest.

"I love you too." I kiss him to keep him awake again. "Put some boxers on before the kids wake up." I whisper. He sighs softly and releases me. I stand up and stretch. He pulls on boxers and plops down on the bed. "I'm going riding." I announce.

"Now?" He asks.

"Yes. We haven't fully explored. I want to go see what we really have out there and I want to go check on the horses and the cows and the crops."

"That'll take all day." He whispers.

"I know it will." I frown. "I'll stay. All you have to do is ask."

"You can go..." He frowns. "But I'm gonna miss you." He is struggling to keep his eyes on mine. I crawl on top of him and give him a long kiss on the lips.

"I'll miss you too. I love you." I kiss him again.

"I love you too." He whispers. I kiss him three more times and then climbs off him and walk to the bathroom.

I shower quickly and dress in a forest green t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans, and my hunting boots I took from my parents house. Peeta is sleeping again. I pick up the blankets off the floor and take them downstairs and start a load of laundry. I get a new comforter and go back upstairs and rest it on my sleeping husband and give him a long kiss. He stays sleeping and I watch him for a minute or two before getting a piece of paper.

Baby,

I need you to do me a giant favor and change the laundry over.

I love you

-Katniss

I draw a heart before my name and get the tape and stick it to his forehead, that way he won't miss it. Then I can't help but take a picture before giving him another kiss, grabbing my jacket and slipping out the door.

...9...

This land really is beautiful.

There is even a lake on it that none of us knew about. It's that big. I lay in the field now, where we spent forth of July.

It's so peaceful out here. The horse Coca stands beside me grazing. I don't have her tied to anything because all I need to do is whistle to get her to come back.

Slowly, I rise to my feet and mount my horse and move to explore the other side of the farm.

There are fields and forests and large hills that will turn to mountains one day I bet. There are some wild animals too.

Not dangerous ones, but rabbits and squirrels.

I don't know how far I am from the house but it's starting to get dark. I gallop off and stop short when I see the fence.

Oh crap I went the wrong way.

My horse is refusing to gallop, only walk. I sigh and realize it's going to take at least three hours to get home. I look at the time on my cell and see it's nine.

It will be midnight which guarantees Peeta and everyone else will be worried sick.

I can't call because I haven't got any reception.

I deal with it and begin the long trek home.

..9..

I was right. Everyone is sitting in the living room when I silently slip in the back door. I shut the door loudly. "I'm home!" I announce myself, walking into the living room. The kids are asleep and I was wrong about everyone being here. It's just Peeta. "Sorry I took so long, Coca wouldn't-" he kisses me hungrily, tracing heated kisses down my jaw to my neck. A low guttural moan escapes me and I find myself throwing my head back.

"You had me so worried." He nips at my earlobe and moves back to my neck and starts to suck.

"S-sorry." I moan.

"Dammit I need to take your clothes off." He groans. "But you need to eat." He makes no move to let go of me. He keeps kissing and nipping and sucking and licking at my neck. He moves back to my mouth and kisses insanely.

"I'm not hungry for food." I push him away to keep myself from taking his clothes off.

"I gave you like...five or six hickies..." He admits.

"That's what makeup is for." I reply. He presses me against the wall and starts kissing me again. His hands tug at my shirt and his mouth starts moving downwards. "Fuck!" I swear loudly, covering myself. "Upstairs." I gasp. "We need to go upstairs."

...9...

We always have gentle sex but this was wild and angry sex and it was incredible.

He's not in bed when I wake. I take a shower and cover the hickies all over my body in makeup before going downstairs.

"Hi Mommy!" Morgan grins and bounces on the balls of her feet.

"Hi honey," I kiss her forehead and Noah's. I can smell bacon. I walk into the kitchen and creep up behind Peeta to kiss his cheek. "We need to have sex like that more often. That was incredible." He turns around to face me.

"Agreed." He kisses me and inspects my neck. "Did you get all of them? They were all over."

"I think so." I kiss his cheek. "I'm starved." I look at the bacon.

"Good. I made a lot."

...9...

It's raining outside so we've been inside. Peeta went to the barn to take care of the cattle but he came right back in when he was done. The four of us have been laying around the house since then. Morgan gets up. "I'm going to sleep." She walks upstairs and Noah soon follows. I change the channel and lean against Peeta. He pulls me close.

"I have seen so many beautiful things on my life." He whispers suddenly. "But you are by far the best." He kisses my head. "I'm in love with you." I look up at him and kiss him on the lips.

"I'm in love with you too." Someone rings the doorbell and I sigh and get up. He follows me and I open the front door. Dammit. My family is here and so is Peeta's. My father is the only person not here. "What?" I ask.

"Come in." Peeta says. I shoot him a glare and he pulls me back to open the door wider.

When it comes down to it Peeta is always the better person. "Katniss, Finnick, Annie." Mom says. I shut the front door. "Sweetie." She takes my hands and I realize that its clear she's been crying. "Three days ago your father sent himself to rehab. Two days later, yesterday, I got a phone call. He committed suicide."

What? Dad is dead?

Finnick takes off one direction and Annie goes the other, having given Parker to Prim.

PEETAS POV

She's going to run. I know her better than anyone. She's going to run and scream at anybody that tries to comfort her.

Instead of just running, she sends the lamp against the wall and shatters it. Then she takes off.

I point at Johanna and Trace with urgency laced in my tone. "Watch the kids." Then I take off after her. She gets on the nearest horse and rides off. I run as fast as I can to the barn and ride at full speed after her. It's raining so hard that I can't see too well and I'm soaked to the bone. I don't stop though. I plow through it.

It's a long, far ride, but finally, I see her standing at a lake I didn't know we had, staring at her reflection in the water.

"Go away Peeta." She don't turn around.

"No." I reply.

"I don't want you. Get away from me."

"No Katniss."

"Yes!" She throws her phone at me. I pick it up and shove it in my pocket.

"Do you actually think I'm going to leave you alone when I vowed I would be by your side for better and for worse?" I ask. She says nothing. "Because your wrong. I'm not going to leave you alone."

She turns to me and pushes me down in the mud. I stand up again. "Go away." She seethes.

"No." I reply. "I'm not going anywhere. Besides, you don't really want me to go."

She grits her teeth.

She hits me and I don't do anything. She needs to let it out and I don't care of she kills me. I told her she can do whatever she wants to me and I wasn't kidding.

Then she looks like she feels bad. I open my arms and after a long time of her staring at me, her knees go weak and she slips down in the mud and starts to cry. I sit down in front of her and pull her on my lap. Her head buries in my shoulder. I rub her back.

I don't tell her that he's happy now or that he's in a better place or that I'm sorry, I just give her a shoulder to cry on.

I find myself crying too. Her pain is so intense that it breaks my resolve. My crying doesn't last long because I really need to be strong for her.

She cries and cries and cries until the sun is gone. The rain does nothing but get worse. She doesn't stop and it breaks my heart. "We should get going." I whisper, hours after dark.

She pulls back to look at me and then gives me a sloppy salty snotty kiss. "I would die without you." She whispers. I say nothing, I just keep rubbing her back. "I...I didn't even get to tell him I love him." She whimpers.

"Oh baby...I think he knows already."

"How? I was a bitch to him!"

"Katniss if you didn't care about him you wouldn't have forgiven him and you wouldn't have let him watch our kids. He knows you love him." She hides her head in my shoulder. "Let's go home." I stand up with her in my arms and tie her horse to my horse. I keep her on my lap and I don't rise quickly, I walk all the way home.

"I'm sorry for hitting you. I love you. I'm sorry."

"I love you too. It's okay." I carry her in the house. They're all here still. Finnick and Annie are back. Clearly they're waiting for us. I look at the time and see it's three in the morning.

I'm not surprised. "We'll be down in a bit." I announce.

I take a shower with her but I don't do anything. I dress her and myself and then I kiss her forehead and pick her up again.

"I'm tired." She whispers.

"You need to eat and you need to drink some water. I know you have a headache." I carry her downstairs again and sit her on the couch.

"Momma." Morgan crawls into her lap. "It's okay." Noah crawls closer.

"Don't cry Mommy. Grandpa won't want you sad."

I know what she's thinking. She's thinking he will want her sad. She's so wrong. She looks up at me with pain so evident in her eyes and I know she's about to break down again. Almost everyone else in the room is crying. She is the only one remaining strong.

It doesn't last long. She breaks our gaze and her posture crumbles. Morgan climbs off her lap and I watch, her pain radiating off of her heart and onto mine as she buries her head in her hands.

...8...

I took Katniss upstairs and we fell asleep. It's five in the morning now and she's gone.

I look around the room and feel something stuck to my forehead.

_Let's face it. It's completely my fault dad is gone. I left. I don't know what I'm going to do or if I'll end it. My life, I mean. What's the point of staying around when I always fuck up our family further? I'm not making anyone happy. I don't think I really want to end it though. I just want to be alone so I can stop hurting you and everyone else. I love you so much. _

_-Katniss _

**DO YOU WANT A REWRITE OF YOU'RE MINE OR A NEW STORY. I want to do both but I will make a vote thing to review or PM me a new story or You're Mine. That's all you have to say. **


	20. Chapter 20

It's been what feels like forever. It's been so long that I'm sure she's either killed herself or she is never coming back. Her family is slightly happier.

Well to be honest nobody is happier, they're worse. And it hasn't been that long, just a day and a half but it hurts so much and it feels like forever.

I just want my wife back.

The news that she is gone is spread, not all over the United States, but all over the entire world. There have been gifts left at the door for the family and cards made and everything.

I guarantee some of them would have cracked a smile on her soft lips. She just isn't here for them.

Prim slams her fist down on the table. "Peeta I love her to death but your fucking wife is mental!" She snarls. "She knows it isn't her fault Dad wasn't in the right mind! She of _course_ found a fucking way to blame herself! If she kills herself she isn't making anybody happy!"

"She won't kill herself." I wave Prim off. "This is just like Katniss. Give her time. She'll realize she's being mental and come home."

"I know Katniss will most likely do that. What if she doesn't?" Finnick whispers. "And she does end it?" he looks like he's going to start crying.

I don't ever cry in front of anyone else. I only ever cry in front of Katniss. If I cry in front of anyone else it means I'm really upset. "Then I won't know how to live anymore." I scrub my eyes which are surely red.

"If she does come back I'm going to kick her fucking ass."

"This is too familiar. Rye finally speaks for the first time in days. He starts to cry. The last time I saw him cry I was ten years old. "She's like my little sister."

KATNISS'S POV

Two and a half months shoot right past. It's cold outside, and snowing. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I'm sitting on the beach with my knees pulled against my chest. I'm not in the country, I'm in Paris. My hoodie is pulled up so I won't be recognized.

I guess I fail.

"I would notice my daughter-in-law anywhere." A familiar, soft voice sounds next to me. I don't move a single muscle. "Katniss, come on." Mrs. Mellark sits down next to me. "It's snowing and…you've really upset the world."

"I upset everybody." I whisper.

"That's not true."

"My dad killed himsef because of me."

"No he didn't. Your dad killed himself because he messed up and he didn't want to face the facts. Like it or not, that's what happened." She pulls my hood down. "Katniss, come on sweetie, don't do this to yourself and to Peeta and Noah and Morgan and your family; don't do this." I look up at her. She looks like the old Mrs. Mellark again, Peeta's mother, not the bitch that hates me.

"You give me mixed feelings." I whisper.

She laughs. "I give myself mixed feelings honey." She says.

"Peeta hates me now. I bet."

"Peeta can't hate you." she shakes her head. "He's so in love with you. I was a fool for challenging love." I shiver violently.

"I miss them. Peeta and the kids and the rest of the family, I mean. My Dad…" I find myself crying. She pulls me into a hug and rubs my back.

"I'll take you home. If you want to go home I'll take you home." She whispers.

"I'm frightened they hate me." I whimper.

"They don't hate you." she stands up and pulls me to her feet. People gape at us as we pass. She loads me in her car and drives to the bakery. I'm ushered upstairs and given food and water and a hot bath. She's on her laptop when I come out of the shower. "Come here." She pats the spot next to her. I'm in a robe because she's washing my clothing right now. I lower myself down next to her. "Peeta got stopped by the paparazzi and they asked why you were insane. He was so angry Katniss. The video has gone viral." She clicks on it.

"_Peeta! Peeta Mellark!" he whips around. It's clear he's annoyed. He says nothing, he just picks up Morgan and takes Noah's hand. _

"_People think Katniss killed herself. What are your thought on that? Will you ever remarry?" _

"_I'll never remarry. Katniss is the only person alive that I ever want to be in a relationship with." He narrows his eyes. His voice is quiet and his eyes don't sparkle the way that why used to. "And…Katniss is strong. If she killed herself…she's been through hell. If she didn't…which I don't think she did to begin with, then I want her to come home." _

"_And what do you think about her being insane?" _

_His eyes go from blue to black so quickly and Johanna, who must have come with him, comes out from the car and takes Morgan from his arms. "Insane?" he repeats. "Katniss is not insane! She's brilliant! She's the most intelligent, beautiful person I'll ever meet and how dare you say that about her! You don't know her! You don't know a thing about her aside from the fact that she's been through so much shit! All this fucking garbage you go around spreading about her-" he sucks in a vicious breath. "-You guys make it worse! Back the fuck off of her! This shit should be illegal! You know nothing about her and she is not insane! Go fuck yourself!" He grabs Johanna's arm, picks up Noah and I watch as my kids, cousin and husband walk to the car and speed down the street. _

"Oh wait, there's one more."

"_Peeta, are you looking to apologize to the paparazzi for the way that you spoke to them?" _

"_Hell no! Leave me and my fucking family alone!" _

"He's breaking down."

"I agree." She says.

"I've never heard his language so bad."

"I know." She sighs. "The kids don't look too happy either. Johanna looks depressed."

"It's my fault."

She laughs. "For the first time your blaming yourself for something and your right. Anyways, let's get you home."

….s….

The house is empty. Mrs. Mellark stays closely by my side. We wander around. Finnick and Annie's house is empty and so is Johanna's.

I walk out the back door and look around. "Where are they?" I ask. "Normally someone is home at one of the houses."

"Let's check the barns." She suggests. She checks the cows and the milking stables and I check the horses. All of the horses but mine and a white one naked Poth are missing. I made is very clear I am the only one to ride my horse Coca. I mount her, suddenly having an idea of where she is. Mrs. Mellark eyes the other horse.

"I haven't ridden in forever." She admits. "Like…since you and Peeta were four and five." She says. "I guess I'll try." She mounts Poth. I yank the reins and send myself flying off. I know exactly where they are. I break into a canter and Mrs. Mellark stays close behind me.

I stop a good hundred yards away and tie the reins to a tree. Mrs. Mellark does the same. She hides in a bush and I scale a tree when we're much closer. Peeta isn't participating in a snowball fight through the entire family. His back is to me and nobody is behind him.

I create a snowball from the snow surrounding the tree and peg it at the back of his head. "Who the fuck just did that?" he shouts. My jaw drops and my hand covers my mouth.

This isn't my baby. This is a shell of my baby.

Everyone looks at him and they look upset that he's even speaking. "Did what?" Johanna asks. Nobody else says a word.

"Threw something at me? Do you guys think that's fucking funny?" I make another snowball and peg is at him. He whips around again.

"Peeta that can't be us!"

"Then it's somebody else! That's not funny. That's rude."

He's pissing me off. Why is he being so mean again.

I look down at Mrs. Mellark who is hidden in the bush at the base of a tree three away from mine. She looks at me and the shock is evident in both of our eyes. "Well whoever it is, leave me the fuck alone!" He's still facing the side that Mrs. Mellark and I are in. I narrow my eyes and shoot a snowball right in his face.

"Looks like it's coming from that tree." Rye says. Peeta's eyes are mean and he glares at Rye.

"Because you know everything all the sudden?"

"Well he has more respect than you do." I speak up. I sdon't move and I'm hidden in the tree so he's cant see me. He runs his hands over his face.

"Peeta…" Rye takes a deep breath.

"I'm tired of imagining her voice." He sighs. I peg another snowball.

"Your not imagining it, dipshit!"

"Peet…" Jared begins. I see he's here too. I have a feeling he moved here.

"It's not real." He shakes his head. I throw another snowball.

"Who else would do this then?" I throw three more at him and get one right in his dick. He shuts his eyes tightly.

"Am I imaginging it?" He finally asks.

"I don't really know." Mom says.

"Apologize and you'll find out." I snap. Jumping three trees from here without being spotted.

"It's not real." He says again.

I say nothing.

"Peet…maybe it is real." Graham says.

"Stop telling me that!" he shouts at Graham. I just back to my tree and fling another snowball.

"Do as I say Peeta Ryan." I jump back to the other tree and wait.

He grits his teeth. "Fine _Katniss _if that really is you, show yourself."

I snicker. "It doesn't work that way."

"Peeta just apologize so we can see if it really is Katniss!" Johanna says.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"Who, me or her?"

"Both of you." he snaps. I jump back to the tree and throw a snowball.

"I can do what I want, you see." I'm really enjoying myself.

"Peeta just fucking apologize!" Rye shouts at him.

"I'm not going to apologize!"

"Well then I'll just leave then." I jump three trees more away.

"Peeta apologize!" Annie says.

"I didn't do anything wrong." He crosses his arms stubbornly.

"Peeta there is a chance, a low one, that Katniss is here right now and that she's alive and well! Don't you want to know! Stop being so fucking stubborn! Apologize to everyone and get the fuck over it!" Jared snaps.

Peeta is silent for a long time. "Fine! I'm sorry!" Peeta says.

"For?" I press, switching trees again to get closer to him. They're so close together that they conceal me.

"For being an asshole to everyone!"

"And?" I ask.

"What else?" he actually _whines_.

I peg a snowball at him. "Nothing, it's just fun to fuck with you."

"Well it's not fucking funny to me!" he snaps. "You said you would show yourself." He sounds like he's about to break down. I lay down on the branch I'm on.

"What if I don't want to?" I ask.

"I told you guys she isn't really here!" he sits down and buries his head in his hands.

"Well it was worth a shot."

"I didn't say I wasn't going to show myself. You have to find me."

"This is ridiculous!" Peeta stands up. "She's dead. We need to accept it! She's dead!"

Morgan stomps her foot. "SHUT UP YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!"

"Hey!" Peeta snaps back. "I am your father!"

"I want my mommy!"

How to show myself? "Hey Peeta tell me why your being an asshole and I come down." I challenge.

"You already said that you would come down when I apologized. You can't add things."

"I suppose your right."

"This is retarded." Johanna says.

"She won't show herself." Rye grunts.

Peeta buries his head in his hands again and everyone else resumes their game.

I creep over to the branch right above his head. This is only place he can see me. "Peeta if you love me you'll look above you." I whisper. He shakes his head and massages his temples. He's crying but nobody can see his tears. I hear him muttering 'it's not real' over and over again. I slowly climb down from my branch and everyone screams and stops their game which makes Peeta look up.

"Stop screaming." He mumbles. "I have a headache." I creep closer to him. Nobody moves. Slowly, I squat down right behind him so my front is pressed against his back and my knees are pressing against his arms.

PEETA'S POV

"You should take some Advil then." Her soft voice murmurs in my ear.

Is it possible that I'm not imagining it?

Surely she's not pressed up against me right now. I must be imaging that. I move my arm and see her knee. She leans closer to me so her hair falls over my shoulder and her amazing scent of a clear fresh water spring and a meadow hits my senses like a bomb going off and my entire body tenses. I start shaking my head anyways because I've dreamt this moment over and over again and I don't want to get my hopes up just to wake up again.

She disappears and I feel like I'm going to die, but then I feel her warm hands on my cheeks. "Peeta." She whispers. "Look at me." I shake my head stubbornly. "Please?" she begs.

Slowly, I drag my eyes up, up her legs and her stomach ad her chest, right up to her face. Her eyes search mine for a long time. "Is this just some type of fucked up dream?" I whisper.

She says nothing for a long time. "I hope to god not." She whispers back. I stare at her for such a long time and she stares back. "Why are you being so mean to everyone? You gave up hope. You never give up hope."

"I…can't control it. I keep imagining your voice and your touch…in many different ways…and…it's starting to get to me and it's breaking me and if I wake up alone…I think I'll end it. I can't do it anymore."

"You won't. You won't wake up alone."

"Prove it." I whisper.

"How?" she scoots closer to me.

I ache to be inside of her. "I don't know." I mumble. She tangles her fingers in my soaked hair and wipes some ice off my face.

"You look ill. You look broken and I know it's my fault. Your Mom said that for the first time I'm blaming myself and I'm right."

I jerk back, shocked. "My Mom? That's where you've been this entire time? With my _mother_?"

KATNISS'S POV

"No, I was-"

"You went and hid at my mother's house? Are you kidding me right now?"

"I didn't-"

"This is fucking ridiculous." He shouts. I feel any anger soar through the roof and before I know it I've got him pinned and I'm hovering above him.

"Shut the fuck up! I was not at your mom's house! I was in fucking Paris and your mom was the one that made me come home! She took care of me! Why the hell are you being so fucking mean to everyone? What's the matter with you? You should know best that I would never kill myself!" I shove snow on him and stand up, storming off.

"Katniss." He chases after me and I pick up the pace. "Katniss!" he grabs my wrist.

"Don't." I rip it from his grip.

"Please." His eyes are welled with tears. I stop resisting. We're in sight of the horses now. "Don't go Katniss. I'm sorry for being a bitch to everyone! I try so hard to be nice but everybody reminds me of you. I know you wouldn't kill yourself but I'm losing my mind! What am I supposed to think when you leave a note like that?"

"I'm sorry." I whisper. We're standing two feet from each other, not touching, hardly looking one another in the eye.

Suddenly, I'm horrified that Peeta is going to file for a divorce. "What's wrong?" he takes a step closer.

"Please don't leave me." I whisper.

"Leave you?" he asks. "Why in god's name would I do that?"

"I'm scared of so many things. Don't leave me." I cling to his hands.

"I'm taking you home. Let's go."

….a….

I follow him upstairs. We don't touch each other, but he shuts the door and locks it. I stare at him. "Why do you think I'm going to divorce you?" he asks.

"I'm stupid." I run my hands over my face. "So stupid."

He stares at me for a while before opening his arms. I stare at him before walking into them. It becomes too much for me. I step out of his arms and he looks hurt.

But I kiss him and shove him backwards on the bed. He's startled at first. "Peeta I need to touch your skin. Your _mine_ anyways."

**Okay it's literally two and two. I don't know what to do. I want to do both but if I do that one will be abandoned. I think I may do the new story and then do You're mine but I'm not promising anything because last time I did that and couldn't end up keeping it you guys were pissed. This story isn't going to be much longer.**

**But I really want to do You're Mine so your votes are still accepted till the entire of this story.**

**if you want "You're Mine" tell me that is what if want. if you want a new story tell me that is what you want. **


	21. Chapter 21

It's been a week and our love is so much stronger. His hand never leaves mine and his gaze is almost always on me.

And he keeps saying 'my love' almost every time he addresses me. The family isn't staying at our house, they're staying with Annie and Finnick. The kids are napping upstairs and god knows where Peeta is. I flip through the channels. I smell something burning and then the fire alarm goes off. Peeta comes running in through the front door, rushing past me, letting out a string of swears. I get up and walk into the kitchen to see the pan has caught on fire.

"Water!" I point to the sink.

"No! It's a grease fire!" he stops me. The kids come rushing down stairs.

"What the hell does that mean?" I ask, pushing Morgan out of the kitchen and ordering her to stay back.

"It means that it will only make it worse! How the fuck do I put this out?" he asks.

"I don't know!" I shriek. "Peeta what do we do?" I ask.

"What the hell happened?" Finnick shouts over the fire alarm. All the guys come into the house.

"Wait…oxygen keeps the fire going! We need to get rid of the oxygen!" It clicks suddenly. I get a rag and soak it.

"Water doesn't work!" Peeta stops me. I ignore him and drain the excess water and lay it on top of the pan. The fire stops and turns to smoke.

Immediately, Peeta starts apologizing a million miles a minute. "I am so sorry I swear to god I was just going outside for a minute to get the mail I should have told you but you looked so comfortable I swear to god Katniss I'm really sorry…" He keeps ranting and I nod my head like I'm listening to him as I start opening windows and turning on the kitchen vent. "…And then I heard the fire alarm and I'm really sorry-"

"Just shut up, alright?" I blurt.

"You're mad at me." he mumbles.

"No. I know you didn't purposely set the kitchen on fire."

"Well bye." The guys all leave. I pick up the pan and move to the window and dump the grease into the snow. I closer it with more snow I hear the kids go back upstairs and I lean further out the window. Peeta lets out a low whistle.

"What?" I ask, covering the grease when it melts away the snow.

"Your ass is gorgeous." He says.

"Are you admiring my ass?" I ask.

"Yes."

"Why?" I ask, straightening up. He doesn't look at my eyes, because now I am facing him. I'm wearing a very tight white long sleeve shirt.

"I hate that shirt." He announces.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because it doesn't expose enough skin." He explains. "Come here." He grabs my hand and pulls me into the half bathroom in the living room and pulls me shirt off. I stare at him as he unhooks my bra. "We can call it a see through t-shirt. Technically you're still wearing clothes and I still get to see what I want." His eyes darken.

"That would drive your brothers crazy." I whisper.

"And my dick." He adds. I start laughing and he stares at me. "God dammit." His hands slowly move up my sides.

"Brainless you and your fuck buddy and the kids need to come over!" Johanna screams. I quickly lock the door and press my finger to my lips. "Anybody here?" she shrieks. She storms around the house. I look down at Peeta's boner that is suffocating him in his jeans. I take my bra from him and pull it on and tug my shirt on. "HELLO?" she shouts. I push him next to the corner and place a kiss on his lips.

"I'll take care of that later." I pat his dick and slip out of the bathroom.

"Where's Peeta?" she demands, my kids on either side of her, fully dressed, looking tired and grumpy.

"No clue." I lie. She narrows her eyes and starts laughing.

"You can finish later."

"Let me go and change." I jog upstairs and take off the shirt and change into dark jeans that are extremely skinny.  
"I'M TAKING THE KIDS! YOU AND PEETA HAVE A HALF HOUR TO FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!" I hear the front door slam. I get a fiery red skintight tank top and a black pushup and pull them on. Peeta walks into the room.

"How are you supposed to get rid of that in a half hour?" I point at my property.

"I can't. Damn you for being so fucking blindly gorgeous."

"I bet I can get rid of it." I smirk. "Pick a hand." I put both hands behind my back. He frowns and points to the right. "Mouth it is." I slam the bedroom door.

…..a…..

"Have a nice time?" Jared teases.

"Better than anyone gives you." Peeta snaps. Peeta's brothers and cousins are staring at my chest.

"Those are not yours to look at." Peeta says. "Look at someone else's wife. Oh, or you could get your own wife." Peeta suggests. I snicker and Peeta snickers with me and then we high five.

"Well I was generous enough." Johanna says. "Sit down."

"Yes ma'am." I tease. Peeta sits down and grabs my hips and pulls me down roughly against him. He rests his chin on my shoulder and pulls me all the way back against his chest with his hands on my ribs, his thumbs purposely on the start of the curve of my boobs. I stiffen and he snickers into my shoulder.

"Is that going to be us; incapable of taking our hands off of each other?" Johanna asks Trace.

"We can keep our hands off of each other!" Peeta and I argue together.

"Yeah right, your minds are connected and so are your hearts. You guys speak in sync. There is no way in hell you can go two days without touching each other."

"Wanna bet?" I challenge.

"No she doesn't." Peeta tightens his grip against me.

"Yes she does." I narrow my eyes.

"Not in that shirt you guys can't." she gestures to my tank top. "it's snowing outside, why are you wearing that anyways? Let me guess…Peeta wanted you to give him something to look at, right?"

My face reddens and she cackles.

"What does that mean?" Morgan asks. I shoot Johanna a glare.

"Nothing you need to know."

"I hate when you say that." Noah mumbles.

"I hate when I have to say that." I reply.

"I think it has to do with mommy's boobies!" Morgan whispers to her brother.

"I too, let's ask!" Noah whispers back. I glare at Johanna so intently that if looks could kill she would explode.

"Daddy why do you like Mommy's boobies, are the comfy?" Morgan asks.

"Do you want to hear a song me and your Daddy's Mommy wrote when your Mommy was your age?" Mom blurts. Mrs. Mellark was let right back into the family and she and I are definitely closer. I'm scared she'll be a repeat of my dad but something tells me that this is not the same thing. Peeta and I exchange a look.

Since our children have the attention spans of a Nat they both start nodding. Mom looks at Mrs. Mellark.

"I don't even know if I can sing anymore." Mom says.

"Oh phish posh, if Katniss got her voice from you there is no way you can't sing." Mrs. Mellark says.

"I got my voice from mom and dad…" I mumble.

"Well sing the song Lillian." Mrs. Mellark says.

"We don't have a guitar." Mom frowns.

Everyone looks at me and I groan. "Peeta I don't want to get up."

"I'm guessing that's your way of telling me to go get your guitar." He kisses the top of my head and sets me down in his seat.

He walks away, his hand staying locked with mine until he can't hold on any longer.

Everyone is staring at me when he leaves.

"What?" I inquire, grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around myself.

"You two are so in love it's making me sick." Johanna says.

"What are you talking about?" I ask stupidly.

"You guys are so desperately in love with one another. It's so cute." Mrs. Mellark gushes.

"We are not." I wave her off. Peeta walks into the door with my guitar. He hands the guitar to Mom and right away my hands are locked with his and I am back on his lap.

"We are not." Johanna mimics me in a high pitch girly voice.

"That sounds nothing like me!" I defend.

"Wait, what'd I miss?" Peeta asks.

"Apparently, we are so desperately in love with one another." I roll my eyes.

"Why is that a bad thing?" he asks.

"It's not…" I frown.

"Well I think it's true." He places a soft kiss on my neck, I first place that is bare that his lips find. "I know I love you." he says. He waits for me to say it back. I look at him over my shoulder.

"I love you, too." I give him a quick but loving kiss on his lips and Johanna gags.

"Let's play!" Parker crawls over to Morgan and Noah. "Let's go play!" He does talk but not fluently. Annie smiles and Finnick throws his arm around her shoulder.

"You guys can't go play." Johanna says.

"Why can't they play? What are we doing here anyway? I can't go get chips from the kitchen whenever I please." I ask. "Oh who am I kidding? They're our kids. You can't tell them what to do." I laugh.

"Please stay." She says. "It's important. We need to say something after this song."

Mom just barely starts the tune before I've taken my guitar from her hands. "Hey!" she scolds.

"It's out of tune." I mumble.

"So?" Mom asks.

"It's a pet peeve." Peeta explains.

"You would know." Johanna mumbles.

I roll my eyes and hand it back to my mother. Peeta places his hands on my back and pushes me to my feet. He takes the blanket off me and stands up and wraps both of us in it like a burrito but still enough room for our hands to wander and not get caught.

Mom starts playing the song and that's exactly what his hands do.

They wander. And when I say wander I mean they touch every single inch of skin he can reach.

And 'lucky' for me, his hands can easily reach my boobs and my crotch.

"Are you okay?" Mom asks. "You don't look like you feel good." Mom says.

He's going to make me come right here in front of the entire family and when I get him alone I'm going to fucking kill him. "Fine, just have a headache." I lie through gritted teeth.

"Teach me guitar please!" Morgan begs my mother.

She starts to teach the kids guitar and everyone pays attention and stops giving us any sort of attention.

That's exactly what he does. He makes me come, right here, in front of everyone, and I bite the inside of my cheek so hard I taste blood to keep from moaning and drawing attention to ourselves.

Clearly he is satisfied with himself. "You can't technically be angry with me." he whispers innocently in my ear. "If you didn't like it you would have stopped me."

"You just wait." I hiss under my breath. "I'm going to kick your ass."

"I would love to see you get me alone." He says.

"Peeta I think we left the burner on." I unravel the blanket and stand up.

"No I think we left it off." He argues.

"No I'm positive we left it on."

"So go and shut it off." He crosses his arms and smirks as if saying 'nice try'.

"I don't know how to work the oven." I say.

"Peeta just go help her." Johanna says. I look at her and she shoots me a look saying 'I know what he just did.'

I grab his wrist and yank him off the couch. He resists the entire way to the house and I slam and lock the front doors.

"Are you fucking insane!" I shout.

"What?" he asks.

"I can't _believe _you just did that!"

JOHANNA'S POV

"Did he just do to her what I think he just did to her in front of everyone?" Rye asks.

"Yes." I reply. "Open the window." He opens the window and Katniss screaming at Peeta hits us. The kids run off to play anyways and I sigh.

"Well how else am I supposed to fucking react?" Katniss shouts.

"Oh calm down." Peeta says.

"Calm down? Are you fucking crazy?"

"You obviously liked it." He defends.

"Well damn, we taught little bro right, didn't we?" Rye elbows Graham.

"Yeah, But still, that was wrong."

"Agreed," We all say in sync.

"I'm not going back over there." Katniss says.

"Why?"

"Because-"

"Because why?"

"Because Johanna saw and who knows who else saw?"

"What's the big deal?"

"The big deal?" she hisses.

KATNISS'S POV

"The big deal; are you seriously asking me that right now?"

"I don't understand what is so bad?" he says.

"In front of everyone you did that, really Peeta? And then you have to decency to ask me what is so bad about it?"

"You can hit me if you'd like." He says.

"I'm fucking tempted. You can go and tell EVERYONE that the reason I'm not coming back over is because YOU made me have a fucking orgasm in front of the entire family!"

"I'm not telling them that!"

"You should be able to face the fucking consequences!" I shout back.

"_Come _on!" he says.

"No! Don't even!"

"Fine!" he walks out the front door and slams it and I storm upstairs.

….a….

After feeling so angry for six hours straight, I get up and pack warm clothes into a duffle bag. I'm not staying here and I'm not saying with anyone else. I'll come back tomorrow or something. If I stay here I'm bound to get into another fight with Peeta. I go down to the garage and get a tent and matches and three sleeping bags to keep me warm.

I get blankets and everything I could possibly need and my bow and arrows that I got from home. I storm out the back door to the barn. I can hear voices from Johanna's house and Peeta's dad screaming at him.

"Where are you going?" Annie and Johanna sprint after me.

"He's such a fucking asshole." I tie my duffle bag to my horse.

"Where are you going?" Johanna asks.

"Out,"

"Can we come?"

"I don't give a shit."

They get on their own horse and canter off after me.

**The voting is still open. **


	22. Chapter 22

We end up staying out here for a complete week, throwing stupid jokes at one another and talking about how stupid we were as kids. We rant about our guys, me especially. We wandered way past the fence, past the forest, in the forest in the mountains. We can see everything from here and we take a ton of pictures. It's cold out but feels incredible and we have snowball fights and generally act like teenagers again.

"So what was that big meeting thing about anyways?" Annie asks Johanna.

"Well don't tell anyone but Trace and I are engaged." She smiles.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes." She smiles.

"Jo, that's great!"

"I know." She grins. A twig cracks and we all freeze.

Then Trace walks through the trees and just stares at us.

"You three girls are in so much trouble." He says. "Pack your stuff. We're leaving."

…..a…..

God it's just like we are in high school again. I sit on the couch in between Annie and Johanna and they're giving us a lecture on how we're irresponsible.

I pay no attention, just like how I was in high school. "Katniss Joy, are you even listening to me?" Mom demands harshly.

"Nope," I reply, popping the P and picking at the shitty nail polish on my fingers. I hate nail polish but Annie insisted.

"Do you even care?"

"Not really." I sigh.

"Katniss!" Mom shrieks.

"What?" I look up at her. "I'm allowed to leave if I want to."

"Why did you leave?" she demands.

"You know why I left." I snap.

"Well Peeta is worried sick about you." Mom crosses her arms.

He and the kids are out looking for me. "Well good." I reply.

"I'm with Brainless here." Johanna speaks up.

"Me too," Annie says.

"This is impossible! It's not okay for you three to leave when you get angry!"

"Well either that or I get the death penalty for murder." I hiss under my breath. I hear the back door slam.

"You wouldn't kill him." Mom says.

"Well if I get pissed off enough I'll want to!"

"You are _so_ thick headed!" Mom snaps at me.

"I'm half of you." I remind her. Peeta walks into the living room with the kids.

"Mama!" Noah and Morgan run for me and I give them a hug before Mom sends them off to play.

"I don't care who your half of." She says.

"So I could be half of somebody else and not be your daughter-"

"Are you being a smartass?"

"I'm smart, but I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with my ass."

Peeta makes an odd choking sound and when I look at him I see he's struggling not to laugh.

"Peeta Ryan, do you want to come over here and join this lecturing?" Mom scolds.

"I'm good, thank you." he says.

"Can we go now?" I ask impatiently.

"No." she says. "You three can't just run off whenever you want to." She says.

"Well we did so you're going to have to get over it." Annie replies.

"Well I'm getting up." I stand up and Mom pushes me back down.

"What?" I ask. "I want some chips."

"I'm not done with you." she says.

"What else do you have to say? Aside from the fact that you don't care who my mother is, you don't-"

"Stop being a smartass." She says.

"Leave my ass out of this!"

"Watch your mouth!" She shouts at me.

"Mom you can't tell me what to do." Peeta laughs again.

"I swear! All of you are acting out!"

"Or you're on menopause." I interject. Peeta snickers and tried to disguise it as a cough. She sighs loudly.

"I give up." She sighs.

"Good, now I can get my chips." I walk into the kitchen.

"Peeta don't forget what I told you." Mr. Mellark warns loudly. Peeta groans.

"Do I have to?" he asks.

"Yes." I get my bag of chips from the cabinet. "We need more chips." I sigh. I walk back into the living room and go to pass Peeta but he loudly clears his throat.

"Katniss I'm sorry for…" his face reddens when our eyes lock. I already know what he's going to say but I stay silent and wait. Morgan comes running in from downstairs.

"Share with me mommy!" Morgan begs. I hand her the chips and she runs away again.

"Peeta," His dad presses. He doesn't want to say it, which makes me sigh in annoyance.

"I'm sorry for uh…doing that to you in front of everyone…" he bites his lip. "It was rude and childish and irresponsible and I'm sorry. Oh, and I'm sorry for getting into that argument and behind a douche."

"It's okay." I reply.

They look surprised. "You were so angry that you _left_ for a week and all you say is it's okay?" Mom snaps.

"All he had to do was apologize." I defend.

"Well I'm going to take a bath." I announce.

"Wait." Mom stops me. "You need to apologize for running off."

I grit my teeth for a long time and then shake my head. "No. I'm not apologizing. I'm an adult. I'm allowed to leave when I please."

"Peeta what do you think about this?" Mom asks.

"I agree with Katniss. She didn't do anything wrong."

"Lily I hate to say it but I agree too." Mr. Mellark says.

PEETAS POV

Katniss leaves to go take a bath and I feel like we need to talk without everyone with us, so I get up and go upstairs.

She's dancing in the middle of the room and humming a song in her bra and panties. She looks embarrassed for hardly a second before continuing what she was doing. "That last time I danced was I think at our wedding." She admits, pausing to pull a white long sleeve flowing dress over her head. I lock the door and she stops dancing. "I don't want to have sex." She warns. "Relationships aren't just about sex."

"I don't want to have sex. I want to talk." I reply.

She smiles. "Okay. Let's talk." She plops down on the bed and pats the spot next to her. I slowly sit down and she turns to face me, our knead touching. She takes my hands in her own.

"I was kind of told what to say when I apologized." I admit. She stays silent. "Look, I'm really, really sorry. I got a bit out of control and I thought nobody was paying attention and I was an idiot and I thought nobody would notice. I'm really sorry for making you have an orgasm in front of everyone. I can't believe I lost control like that and I feel horrible." She opens her mouth but I keep speaking. "And also I'm sorry for being an asshole to you when we got home. Long story short, it was very wrong of me and I'm horribly sorry. If you don't forgive me I understand but just know that I'm sorry."

"It's okay Peeta. I was really upset and angry before but I'm okay now. It's okay."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm positive." She replies. I stand up and she watches me for a minute before I hold my hand out.

"Let's dance, my love."

She takes my hand. I pull her up and we twirl around our bedroom, our eyes locked. We don't say a single word, we just dance. I trip a lot and step on his feet. I let out a low hiss of annoyance. "I can't dance." I grit my teeth.

"Hey," he stops moving and tilts my chin up so our eyes connect.

"I can't do it!" I release him and cross my arms.

"It takes practice." He connects our lips for just a moment before taking my hands. "I can't believe nobody ever taught you to dance." He laughs.

"Dad tried. He tried so hard. We spent weeks and I never got it. He would have kept going but I gave up and after a while he stopped offering."

"Well...it seems to me your Dad wanted you to learn. I'm going to do everything in my willpower to make sure you learn. And 'I can't do it' and 'I give up' are no longer sentences."

"I'm incapable of dancing." I bite my lip.

"Not for long." He says.

...8...

Hours after tired hours. Every single day for an entire week he drags me upstairs. Everyone thinks we're having sex when in all actuality we haven't done anything if the sort.

I groan and slip down to the floor. "I give up." I mumble.

"That is not a sentence." He corrects me.

"Well I can't!" I snap. He crawls on top of me on the floor.

"You listen to me, Katniss Joy. Nothing, and I mean nothing is impossible. You will learn to dance if it's the last thing I do."

"Don't say that." I mumble. "That scares me..."

"Right," he kisses my neck. "Sorry,"

Johanna comes and starts hammering her fists on the door.

"YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO FINISH UP!" She shrieks. I stand up and rip the door open. She's already gone. I go downstairs and Peeta follows.

"You still have ten minutes." Mom frowns. I roll my eyes.

"We haven't been doing what you think." I cross my arms.

"I don't believe you." Johanna crosses her arms too.

"Well see the funny thing is we don't care if you believe us or not." Peeta speaks up.

"Well where's your shirt then?" Johanna challenges.

"Cut it out." I say the moment my kids come running into the room. They're covered in mud and grass from head to toe. "Oh my god." I stare at them.

"We went mudding!" Noah grins.

"Oh my god." I repeat.

"Wanna come with us?" Morgan asks.

"Oh my god." It's all I can seem to say.

"It's funny mommy!" Morgan insists.

The smell of cow shit hits me and I realize that it's not mud it's shit.

"Upstairs, In the bath, right now."

"Mommy it feels good!" Morgan stops her foot.

"Upstairs," I repeat. The two kids turn around and storm upstairs. "Stay off the carpets!" I chase after them. "Don't touch anything!"

"Is that shit?" I hear Johanna ask. I'm guessing somebody nods because she doesn't get a reply. Mom comes racing upstairs with the camera and takes at least ten photos. I start the tub and make them climb into it with their clothes on. I have to drain the water and refill the tub three times before they even have their clothes off.

...9...

Needless to say, I'm not in that good of a mood because now the house smells like cow shit. I douse everywhere the kids went and it smells like shit and bleach.

"I'm sorry." I gag and start opening windows. "It's cold outside!" Johanna complains.

"I don't care." I open every window in the entire house and then get the fevered and empty the can.

"Your going to kill us." Mom says. It is freezing in here.

"Oh get over it." A lot of people start shivering and I sit down on Peeta's lap. He covers us with a blanket and wraps his arms around me.

Everyone glares at him and he scoffs and rolls his eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything!" He snaps. His hands wander anyways but he doesn't do anything he just rests his hands on my stomach with his hands under my shirt and rubbing small circles.

"What are you doing?" Rye asks menacingly all the sudden. He is glaring so intently at Peeta that I have to somewhere else.

"I'm not doing anything." Peeta replies.

"Then why are you moving your hands?" Rye shouts back.

"He isn't doing anything." I defend.

Peeta stops rubbing circles on my stomach and just rests his hands on my thighs. Rye sighs sharply and gives up.

"Okay," Johanna and Trace stand up. "We have been trying to tell you guys forever but something always interrupts us.

"What is it?" Haymitch asks his daughter. "Did Trace knock you up?"

"No!" Johanna says. Something about her tone makes me wonder if they are getting married because she is knocked up.

Jo and I lock eyes and I narrow mine. She glares at me as if saying say a word and she slits my throat.

Or maybe I'm just reading her wrong. I arch my eyebrows ever so slightly as if saying "are you pregnant?" She narrows her eyes and just hardly moved her head to the right and back to he usual posture. No she isn't pregnant. But then her eyes move up to the ceiling and to the floor and back to mine. She said no and now she's saying yes. Then she rolls her head like she's cracking her neck. Realization of what she's trying to say hits me.

She might be pregnant. I nod my head ever so slightly an look to trace and back again, asking her if Trace knows. She moves her head to the right and back.

No. I'm the only one. I nod again.

"We need to know what Katniss knows." Haymitch says suddenly. Rye claps his hands.

"We need to make Katniss spill." Rye says.

...9...

They have been torturing me for the past hour. The minute Rye got a spoon and made it so hot that it was red and I went insane and starts screaming and throwing things and crying my eyes out, they stopped. Now they're questioning me. Peeta keeps snapping at everyone and telling them to back of and that it's not that important.

PEETAS POV

To see her lose it like that made me panic. She won't let anyone touch her and she keeps her head down.

"I'll get the fucking needles this time." Rye says.

She bursts into tears and runs upstairs, slamming our bedroom door behind herself.

"I fucking told you guys to back off! I told you! God dammit Rye! Who knows when she's going to come down now?"

Rye shrugs, not caring.

KATNISS'S POV

Is this because of that nightmare I had last week? It's been bothering me and I can't stop crying and choking on tears and shaking. I pick up my phone and text Allison.

Me: _I had a nightmare last week where I was back in the closet and Sara was there and she was burning me and injecting me again and now today Rye was trying to get me to spill something Johanna told me and he lit a spoon so it was red hot and I lost it and started screaming and throwing things and crying. Peeta calmed me down and I couldn't stop shaking. They started questioning me and I couldn't let anybody touch me. Not even Peeta. Then Rye threatened to use a needle I started crying again and I locked myself in my room and now I can't stop and I'm shaking so bad and I keep seeing her in my head. _

I double and triple check that this message is going to Allison and only Allison and when I'm absolutely one hundred percent positive I press send.

Allison: _...the dreams are back? _

Me: _I only had that one._

Allison: _but you haven't had one in a long time. _

Me: _yes_

Allison: _we may have to start the therapy again_

Me: _I hate that _

Allison: _I know you do. Listen Kat. Nobody is going to hurt you. Sara is gone and so is her sister. Peeta will never hurt you. Nobody can hurt you anymore. Don't be afraid. Let them comfort you. You could have anxiety...I don't know. If you have another dream in the next week I want you to tell me. If you don't get better in the next week let me know. I'm going to come down if you don't get better. _

Me: _okay _

Allison: _I mean it Katniss. Let Peeta in_

Me: _I don't want to be insane..._

Allison: _your not insane. Let Peeta in._

Me: _I don't want to go back to the doctor place_

Allison: _you won't. Let Peeta in_

Me: _what if he doesn't want me?_

Allison: _he does. Let him in. _

Me: _I'm scared._

Allison: _Katniss you and Peeta are MARRIED. You have no reason to be scared of him._

Me: _I know but I'm still scared._

Allison: _let him in. _

Me: _fine._

She doesn't reply back.

I don't want to go out there and get questioned again.

Besides, I'm crying so hard I don't think I can. I text Peeta.

Me: _I'm supposed to let you in. _

Baby: _okay..._

Me: _you can come up here if you want. Just don't touch me yet..._

Baby: _are you sure? _

Me: _yes _

I pace my breathing. When Peeta knocks on the door I open it. I hide until he's all the way in the room and then slam it and lock it. He starts to reach for me but shoves his hands in his pockets instead. I start to pace and he sits down on the bed and watches me. "Am I insane?" I mumble.

"Not even close." He replies.

"Well that's what it feels like." I reply.

"But you're not crazy." He says. "Katniss you were taken and tortured. Of course it's going to give you some problems." He says.

He doesn't touch me at all. He watches me silently for god knows how long. I pace for hours until I stop crying. I ask him stuff sometimes, stupid questions that I already know the answers to. He answers them anyways. I stop walking around ten at night and just stare at him.

Once I'm positive I'm fine, I pull him to his feet and hug him. He kisses my forehead as he hugs me back. "Okay?" He asks. I nod my head.

...9...

"Will you play the song again?" Morgan asks my mom. I've been quiet for the most part. It's only the next day and I'm getting better. Mom eyes my guitar in the corner of the living room.

"Do you mind?" Mom asks. I shake my head. She gets up and grabs my guitar.

This time, I listen.

_Your little hand's wrapped around my finger_

_And it's so quiet in the world tonight_

_Your little eyelids flutter cause you're dreaming_

_So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light_

_To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret_

_I'd give all I have, honey_

_If you could stay like that_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple_

_I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart_

_And no one will desert you_

_Just try to never grow up, never grow up_

_You're in the car on the way to the movies_

_And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off_

_At 14 there's just so much you can't do_

_And you can't wait to move out someday and call your own shots_

_But don't make her drop you off around the block_

_Remember that she's getting older too_

_And don't lose the way that you dance around in your pj's getting ready for school_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple_

_No one's ever burned you, nothing's ever left you scarred_

_And even though you want to, just try to never grow up_

_Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room_

_Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home_

_Remember the footsteps, remember the words said_

_And all your little sister's favorite songs_

_I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone_

_So here I am in my new apartment_

_In a big city, they just dropped me off_

_It's so much colder that I thought it would be_

_So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on_

_Wish I'd never grown up_

_I wish I'd never grown up_

_Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up_

_I could still be little_

_Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up_

_It could still be simple_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little_

_Oh darling, don't you ever grow up_

_Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple_

_Won't let nobody hurt you_

_Won't let no one break your heart_

_And even though you want to, please try to never grow up_

_Oh, don't you ever grow up_

_Oh, never grow up, just never grow up_

I realize something.

I'm a horrible mother.

My kids go to bed and tuck themselves in. I really only see them when they're eating. They don't really talk to Peeta or I much, they go off in their own business and I don't bother to check on them.

I'm ashamed. I've let my own issues break my bond with my babies. Peeta coughs and I look up at him to see his eyes light blue. He must have just noticed this too.

Shouldn't I be teaching my kids? Not my mother?

Shouldn't I be bathing my kids instead of sitting in there as they bathe themselves?

Shouldn't I be tucking them in? Hugging them? Telling them I love them?

I'm too busy shutting myself in our bedroom or running away and hiding.

I used to have such bad anxiety that I refused to let them out if my sight.

When is the last time I let them lean against me? I did that to my own mother all the time.

Hell, I still do that to my own mother.

I've hardly noticed how bad Noah needs a haircut and how Morgan's hair is long enough for her to sit on.

Pain wells up in my chest and suffocates me.

I remember I used to wake up four times a night to check on them.

Now I lock the door to my room and sleep till eleven.

I should be waking up at the ass crack of dawn to be awake when they come downstairs.

Morgan's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. "It's annoying!" She stops her foot.

Mom sighs. "It looks beautiful."

"It's too big! I want it like Mommy's!"

"What like me?" I ask.

"Hair! It's too long!" She whines.

"Me too! I want hair like Daddy!"

Morgan throws her arms up in the air in annoyance. I notice how her sleeve slips up to the middle of her forearm and her shirt goes all the way up past her belly button.

It's the same for Noah.

"Let's go shopping and get your hair cut." I suggest. "You guys need new clothes anyways."

"Really?" Noah asks.

I look to Peeta who starts nodding. "We all can go." He says.

"Help me!" Morgan sounds desperate like I'm going to say no. She tugs my hand and I stand up and let her drag me upstairs. She insists on me picking out her outfit. I get floral jeans that are white with pink flowers, gray vans, a white t-shirt, a pink coat and a white scarf. She begs me to help her dress and when she's standing in front of me in her panties I see how dirty she is.

"When is the last time you had a bath?" I ask.

"When you did it!" She says. Two days ago.

I laugh and pick her up and move into Peeta and I's bedroom. I take her to the huge tub and start it up. When it's the perfect temperature, I take off her panties and pick her up. She splashes in the tub and sends water all over the bathroom, soaking me.

I don't complain. I kiss her forehead and grab the soap. She sits still as I lather up her hair and help her rinse it out.

I was her body and drain the water and then wrap her in a fluffy towel and pick her up. She giggles the whole way back to her room and the entire time I dress her. I put her hair in two long fishtail braids. "Where are you going?" She looks sad.

"I'm going to change." I answer. She hops up off her bed and runs for my hand, her tiny fingers wrapping around my middle finger. She follows me to my bedroom and watches as I change into faded skinny jeans and a very light sea foam green knit sweater that is so loose it falls off one shoulder and even when I pick it back up it falls down again. I change into a black push-up and let it fall.

It exposes me and I sigh and change into a black white tank top and pull on combat boots and them braid my hair.

"Ready?" I change purses quickly and grab her hand.

"Let's go!" She says. She practically drags me downstairs. The kids are ready but Peeta haven't done anything but taken care of Noah.

"Daddy!" Morgan whines. Peeta looks up.

"Yes?" He asks.

"Go get ready!"

"We're leaving now?" Peeta asks. Morgan starts jumping up and down.

"We're gonna be late!" She cries.

"Alright, alright." He stands up and brush past us on his way upstairs.

The kids are running around screaming. After a half hour Morgan gets annoyed. "Where is Daddy?" She whines. "We can't go anywhere until he's here!"

"I'll go investigate." I kiss her head and ruffle Noah's hair as I pass them upstairs. "Peeta! What is taking you so-" I cut off when I see him, completely dressed, passed out on the bed. I frown and move into the room and leave the door open. "Peeta?" I sit down beside him and thread my fingers through his hair. I hate to wake him but he may be upset if I don't. "Peeta." I say loudly. He don't move at all. I shake his shoulder and he groans. He opens his eyes and they're bloodshot.

"I need to tell you something." He says, sleep laced in his voice.

"Okay." I frown.

"I'm so tired. I didn't sleep at all last night and I've had about an hour or less since we got into that fight..." He cringes and waits for my reaction.

"That's not healthy." I inform him.

"I know." He runs his hands over his face.

I bite my lip. "Your not coming." I decide.

"Why?" He whispers.

"Because I said no." I reply. He looks like he's about to argue but he falls asleep first.


	23. Chapter 23

Johanna, Annie and Parker came with us. My two are running in front of us and Parker is asleep in his crib.

Morgan isn't paying attention to what she's doing. She slams right into a woman with her hands fill of bags from Yankee Candle and knocks the bags right out of her hands. Both the women and Morgan fall down and I shut my eyes for a minute when I hear the glass, a lot of it, shatter. Eyes turn and gasps hit the air when they realize that it's me.

Dammit. "I am so sorry." I help her off the floor. "I'm so sorry. I'll pay to replace everything."

"Sorry ma'am." Morgan says. "I was playing with my broffer and I didn't see you!" she stands up and brushes herself off. The women looks at my daughter first and then to me and then her eyes widen.

"You don't have to help replace anything." She says.

"Oh I insist." I pick her bags up and hand them to her. "It's my fault anyways. I should have been holding on to her."

She stares at me. "You're a lot more human than I thought you ever would be."

"Um…thanks." I reply. "But really, it's my fault, my child and I can't possibly let you keep everything destroyed."

She runs her hand through her red hair. "Well…it's fine; really, I don't want you to replace it. I was my phone. It is equally our own faults." She says. I sigh and look down to check and make sure my kids aren't doing something else.

Noah and Morgan are gone, Johanna and Annie are on Johanna's phone scrolling through photos and not paying attention. I whip around to look behind me and then over the woman's shoulder.

Great.

"Well, it was nice to meet you." she walks away.

"Did you guys notice something wrong?" I ask. Annie and Johanna look up.

"Where's the rascals?" she asks.

"Good question." I look around.

"I'll go that way." Annie points to our left. Johanna hitches her thumb backwards and walks off without a word. Annie walks away and I go straight, stopping in every store for my kids.

I hear the alarm to a store going off.

I walk around for a while. "Hey! Somebody stop those kids!"

I see puffs of powder pass me and candy hitting the ground and three security guards pass me. I brace myself and turn around. I see my kids with handfuls of candy and Noah with a bottle of alcohol in another hand.

Oh my god.

We've been here all day, like five hours, and _this_ is _not_ a good way to end it.

I chance my kids and catch up easily, snagging both of their arms and pulling them to a halt. "Look! We got candy Mommy!" Noah screams in excitement. People have stopped what they're doing and they're forming a crowd.

This is not good.

The security guards don't look too happy. "Katniss Mellark." One of them narrows his eyes and looks me up and down. "You really just seem to be a magnet for trouble. It's quite sad to watch." I say nothing because I am always having some type of problem. Morgan whispers something to Noah and they start to take off again but I turn around and grab both of their hands.

"But Mommy the Disney store is right there and Mickey Mouse is in there!" Noah screams.

"Let go!" Morgan tugs at my arm and I pick her up.

"You have quite the troublemakers there." The same officer says. Morgan is screaming and Noah is screaming.

"Excuse me." I say. I set Morgan down and stand both of them in front of me. "Cut it out." I say. They silence. "You two do _not_ go around taking what you please. That is not right and that is not okay. You are going to apologize for disrupting everybody's shopping, you are going to apologize to these officers for making their day harder and you are going to return everything _and _you're going to give them money for it."

"Momma we don't have any money!" Morgan whines.

"I'll give you the money." I reply.

"Can we still have the candy though? We already took it." Noah says.

"No. When you get home you two are to eat dinner and go to bed."

"Mom!" Noah protests.

"Don't argue with me Noah." I reply. He stomps his foot.

"It's not fair broffer! Mommy takes stuff from stores all the time!" Morgan whines.

"I know!" Noah replies.

"That's because I pay for it. It's not stealing if you pay for it. You just wait until your father hears about this."

The officers let me go and they don't fine me. I make the kids say a whole entire apology and I don't let them stop until I decide it's good enough. They apologize to the officers, to the shoppers and the people working in the stores they stole from. _And _they give them the money. Johanna and Annie are silent the entire ride home. Peeta is awake when I walk in the door. "Have a nice time?" he asks.

"Why don't you two tell your father what you did?" I ask. They stay silent. I grit my teeth. "Go upstairs to your rooms."

"Mom!" Noah protests.

"Right now!" I point at the stairs.

"It's not fair!" Morgan screams. She bursts into tears and storms upstairs. I hear one door slam. I follow them and make Morgan go to her own room. I go back downstairs to find the house is deathly silent.

"What did they do? Surely is isn't that bad."

"Well to start Morgan ran into some lady and shattered everything she bought." I say.

"That's it?" Peeta asks.

"Then I was talking to the lady and the kids left! Then I find them being chased by not one, not two, but _three _police officers with their arms full of candy and Noah had a _beer_. And then they started throwing a tantrum in front of everyone in the entire mall and were screaming how I take stuff from stores all the time."

"Wait, they stole?"

"From two stores; Noah went to one and Morgan went to the other and then they met up and Noah went into the candy store with the alcohol and stole more candy."

"Wait, you're dead serious?" he asks.

"Do you think I'm kidding?" I cross my arms. He stands up and walks right upstairs.

He's talking to Morgan first. I hear her arguing and his voice raises and she stops arguing. "I just wanted some candy." She whimpers. "I thought it was free."

"You stole once. Both of you." Mrs. Mellark says after Peeta comes back downstairs and pulls me into a hug.

"Oh god I remember that." Mom says.

"We were at a very expensive antique store. Katniss you were two, Peeta you were three. You saw a statue of a dolphin. Katniss you elbowed Peeta in the rib. Before we could stop you, you snatched the six thousand dollar antique statue and Peeta got a one of a whale and you took off. We stopped you and made you return it and apologize."

"That's all you did to punish us?" I ask. Mom and Mrs. Mellark lock eyes.

"You guys were only two and three you didn't know any better." Mom says.

I'm silent for a long time.

Morgan and Noah don't know any better. They didn't know. They're little kids. They can say their ABC's and they're potty trained but they can't read too well. They wouldn't understand money.

I was way too hard on them. I look to Peeta and I can tell he's thinking the same thing but he doesn't say anything. I go upstairs and into Noah's room. He's not crying, he's staring out the window with a pout on his face. He jumps slightly when I shut the door and looks behind himself.

"I'm so sorry Mommy. I didn't know. I thought I could take it and I'm sorry." He says.

"Listen." I sit down on the edge of his bed. "When you are anywhere but at home and you want something, you have to pay for it with money." I explain.

"The green stuff you gave us?" Noah asks.

"Yes, that is money. When you are anywhere but at home and you want something, you ask for it. If they at yet you ask them how much money it costs. You pay for it with the amount they tell you." I explain.

"Oh..." He looks back at the window.

"I'm gonna let you out if your room." I decide. "But don't do it again, okay?" I ask.

"Okay Mommy." He gets off his chair and walks over to me. He crawls into my lap, kisses me right on the lips and then hugs me. I hug him back. It's a long time before he releases me and walks to the door and out of sight.

I go to Morgan's room. She's laying on the floor, crying her eyes out, her hair into a tangled mess because she basically ripped it out of the braids. "Hey," I shut the door and sits down in front of her. "Don't cry. Come here." I open my arms and she weakly crawls into them.

"I thought it was free I swear." She mumbles. I explain everything I just explained to Noah. She hugs me like Noah did and runs downstairs. I get her hairbrush and follow her. Her long hair is sticking up in every way possible and to knotted so terribly that I know it's going to be a pain in the ass the get out. I sit on the couch and open my legs for her to sit down. She does, and I get to work. I find the ponytail on the top of we head. Gently, I ease it out and get the other one out and try to untangle it with my fingers first. I get it so it isn't sticking up but there are three gigantic snarls all over her hair. I grab the brush and start to brush them out. She cries out multiple times and begs me to stop. I keep apologizing over and over again. She starts crying.

"She's just like you Katniss." Mom says. "And you Prim. I tried so hard." Mom sighs. I keep brushing and brushing. Finally, her hair falls completely smooth.

"Want me to cut your hair?" Peeta asks her.

"Like Mommy's?" Morgan asks.

"Yes." He says. My hair is to about three inches below my shoulder blades. Peeta lays a sheet on the floor and gets the scissors and takes the hairbrush. "You have to stay perfectly still though. Can you do that?"

"How still?" Morgan asks.

"So still that it's like your sleeping."

"Okay!" She walks over to the chair and sits down.

"Let's see how well he knows you Katniss." Rye says. "Let's see how many times he has to turn around."

Peeta starts cutting Morgan's hair. She starts making up songs and swinging her legs. Peeta calmly reminds her she can't move, so she stops swinging her legs and keeps singing.

It even surprises me that it takes literally five minutes for him to cut her hair one hundred percent exactly like mine. He doesn't look over at me one time. Peeta sits down next to me after cleaning up the mess.

"How did you get it perfect?" I ask after accepting his kiss.

"Because I know every inch of you." He explains. I narrow my eyes.

"Prove it." Rye loves watching Peeta fail so he constantly makes him prove things.

"There's a freckle right here." He puts his finger on a spot on my ribs.

"No there isn't." I frown. He lifts my shirt up to right before my bra. Right here. Right where I said it was."

"I don't have a freckle there." I mumble.

"Yes you do Katniss, look." he says. I struggle to see, but after a minute of struggling, I sigh.

"I can't see." I say.

"Why, you need glasses?" He asks. "Where are your glasses?"

"Upstairs," I reply. "I can't see because..."

"Her damn tits are in the way." Johanna says. Peeta smirks but he doesn't tease me, but I know he will later. He loves making me get all red.

"You have a freckle right here." He points to my side boob.

"Let's see then." Rye rubs his hands together.

"No." Peeta says.

"Why not?" Justice asks sharply. Peeta drops my shirt and it falls back to my waist. "Because Katniss is my wife. She's mine. I don't want your dirty eyes on her."

"I'm looking at her now." Justice says.

"You know I don't mean it that way. Besides, Katniss doesn't want anybody else looking at her."

"Don't speak for her." Kegan says.

"She told me so. She said she doesn't like anybody else looking at her like that because she loves me."

My face goes bright red because that is not what I said and he knows it. He's only twisting my words for my own sake.

What I really said was "I don't want anybody else looking at me because the idea of another guy looking at me makes me want to throw up. I love you so much and just the thought of being with someone else makes me want to die."

"Sure Katniss really said that." Justice rolls his eyes. "She wants my D." Peeta's says go dark and he stands up, but I grab his hand and pull him back down.

"I do not. You...oh god, no." I start shaking my head like crazy. "Not a chance. Not even in hell."

"Nah Kitty wants mine." Finnick says. I snicker because I know he's kidding.

"You wish." I tease.

"Nah, I'm happy where I'm at." Finn looks at Annie and she blushes. Johanna gags.

"Love is disgusting." She says.

"Hey!" Trace says.

"Except with you."

"Keep proving yourself Peeta."

"She's has three hundred and seventy eight freckles." He says.

"Okay now that's just creeping." I say.

"Well you do. I can name everyone single one of them." He says. He goes off, pointing to everyone single one. Rye counts them off in his head and sighs when Peeta succeeds.

"Fine then. Birthmarks." I narrow my eyes.

I don't actually have any.

"You have two." He says.

"No I don't. I don't have any."

"You have one right here." He points to the spot directly below my left breast.

"No I do not." I reply.

"Yes you do." He insists. He takes my phone and lifts my shirt up. He just barely pushes my bra up and he takes a picture of it, covers me and hands it back.

"Well you drew it on." I insist.

"Katniss be realistic. When is the last time I saw you like that?" He asks.

"Like a month." I frown.

"That's torture!" Rye bursts.

"Shut up." I snap.

"Rye you don't understand." Peeta says.

"Well enlighten me." He says. Peeta opens his mouth but I sit up.

"It's not your business." I snap.

"Kitty?" Finnick asks.

"What?" I look at him.

"Are you pregnant again? We've been wondering for a while..."

"No." Peeta's eyes snap up to mine. It's clear nobody believes me. "I'm not!" I insist. Johanna scoffs.

"Your a terrible liar." She says. I scowl.

"I'm not lying." It's clear they don't believe me. "You guys are pissing me off." I stand up.

"Don't go." Peeta grabs my hand.

"I'm not!" I start to pace, wringing my hands together.

"What the hell did we do?" Rye demands.

"Just that!" I runs my hands over my face three times. "We're family! We get into an argument every damn day and it's starting to piss me off!"

"Yeah I have to agree." Prim says. "We fight like every day."

"Well I'm bored. I know that's why I'm getting angry."

"We're spending too much time inside." Mom says.

"Well that makes sense when we have eighteen horses and six thousand acres, and frozen lake!"

"What lake?" Mom asks.

"Oh that's right. You guys don't know about the lake." I frown.

"Let's go to the lake." Rye says.

"It's getting dark and if we go we could get lost. Let's go tomorrow."

"Fine. I'm holding you to that." Rye says.

"Fine."

...9...

I wake up at four in the morning, shower and pull on a thick white long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, my cowgirl boots, then I braid my hair, pull on my hunting jacket and sneak downstairs. I step over bodies that didn't snag one of the spare rooms and go into the kitchen and make cereal, the one thing I can't catch on fire. I shovel my food and tiptoe back upstairs and check on the kids. Morgan is sleeping sleeping soundly with her arms spread above her head and her legs tangled in her blanket. Her baby blanket is under her head and her pillow is at her feet. I smile and kiss her forehead. Then I slip out of the room and go into Noah's room. He's on the floor curled into a ball, shivering. His lips are blue. The blankets are falling off the side of his bed and I have a feeling he fell out of his bed. I walk over to him and pick him up. He wakes up and screams. "Shhh," I soothe. "It's just me." I lay him in his bed. "You were on the floor." I whisper.

"You scared me." He mumbles.

"I'm sorry." I kiss his forehead and fix his blankets. I pull them over him and tuck him in.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

"I'll be outside." I whisper.

"You won't leave again, will you Momma? I don't like when your not here." He whispers. His chin starts trembling and tears start to slip down his cheeks.

"Come here," I sit down on the edge of his bed and pull him into a hug.

"Promise you won't leave no more?" He begs into my chest.

"I promise." I whisper. I kiss his head and lay him back down. "I'll be outside." I promise." I tuck him in again and stand up.

"Wait." He whispers. "Stay with me until I fall asleep Mommy." He mumbles. I sit back down.

"Okay."

He takes my hand and doesn't let go. I wait patiently, and after a few minutes, his eyes glide shut.

I wait another ten minutes until I am absolutely positive he's not going to wake up when I move. Then I tuck his hand under the covers on his belly, kiss his forehead and stand up.

I slip back downstairs and out the back door.

The cold air bites my face and I know it's in the negatives. I jog to the cows' barn and get the first one, Lola, and bring her to the milking barn. I go back and forth and with a lot of nudging from the stubborn ones, I get the last one, Lucy, to move.

Then I leave them attached and go into the horses. I clean all eighteen of their four hoofs, I feed each of them and by the time I'm done with the last one the first one is done. I open their stalls and let them roam the land. I walk over to the water basin and fill it the rest of the way, and tie loose knots around the farm and then go into the milking barn.

A lot of time has already passed and far off in the distance I can see the sun just barely coming up. I walk into the milking barn and milk the first cow and move around.

Then, when I'm done, I let them roam too. The cows pasture and the horse pasture are divided into two different pastures. They walk outside. I stare at the buckets.

I have to pasteurize them, and to do that I have to boil them.

And I can't work the oven.

I think for a long time and it clicks. I'm good doing everything outside. That's my strongpoint. I can hunt and I can cook on a fire and I can start a fire without matches and I know about plants and I can tie any knot you would ever think of.

So I'll make a fire instead of going inside and waking people.

What to hold the bucket over top of the fire with though…

I think for a moment. Then I walk into the horse barn and upstairs where we store everything and get the axe. I'm not good with it and I need Johanna but I don't want to wake her so I'll manage. I climb a high tree and hack off three pieces of a branch and let them fall with a thud to the ground.

Carefully, I climb back down and pick up the three heavy pieces easily and go into the barn. I go upstairs and hook the axe back on its shelf. I get the drill and the chainsaw. I line the woods up together and saw them into even parts. They're all at least ten feet long when I'm done.

I need a sharpie and the matches. I stand up and brush the wood chippings off of my clothing and climb down the ladder downstairs. It's probably eight in the morning now. I walk out of the barn and walk through the snow to the back door and slip inside. It's so warm in here. I walk down the hall to the living room. I step over bodies again and go into the kitchen. I open the first drawer and get the sharpie and the matches and shut it again. Then I slip back outside and back upstairs in the barn. I get a ruler from the metal drawers and mark each of the wood in the same spot. Then I turn on the drill and drill through them in even holes. I get rope and thread it through the holes so they're tied together to tightly I doubt they'll come undone. I clean up my mess and sweep up the wood chippings onto the floor of the barn. I Then I pause to clean the horse and cow stalls and put in fresh hay and sweeping up the mess before taking my tee-pee and the rope outside. I add another tie that I can hook the bucket to. Then I get a shovel and clear the snow out of a way in a circle and walk into the forest and collect wood and twigs and everything. I lay them down and get some cardboard from the barn and grab the matches.

They're empty. I sigh loudly and walk out to my fire pit and toss the empty box on the wood.

I'm not going to take forever to get the twig trick to work. I walk into the house and into the kitchen. I get the steel we use for cleaning dishes and get a brand new battery and go back outside. I walk over to the soon-to-be fire and set them down and then I get all the milk and set them down beside me. I tie one of the buckets to the rope tee-pee and I grin when it dangles. It's going to work.

I grin excitedly when I rub the battery on the steel and it lights. I light the cardboard on fire and light one of the twigs and sit back as the fire gets bigger and bigger. I get another stick from the forest and sit. I get the glass bottles and sit back down and wait.

When the water starts boiling, I take the bucket and fill all of the glasses with boiling water and put them in the snow until they're cold as ice. I boil water next and put all the glasses in the boiling water and set them aside after putting on the tops.

It sounds quick but I takes an entire hour.

PEETA'S POV

The bed is cold next to me and I panic.

Did she leave again? Shit. I get up and I can hear the kids downstairs and the family laughing. I rush down there and when I don't see her, my panicking gets worse.

"What's the matter?" Dad asks.

"Kat's gone." I sigh. Noah's eyes light up.

"I know!" he says. He runs upstairs and drags me with him and practically forces me to get dressed. Everyone else is getting dressed too.

He waits until everyone is ready and grabs my hand and drags me out back. "She out here! She told me so!"

"Where is she then?" Morgan asks. We look around and I notice the smell of smoke. I look to the other side of the barn and see smoke in the air. I start walking and everyone follows me, and sure enough, she's sitting at a fire. She jumps when I sit down next to her.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack." She says. She is just finishing pasteurizing milk.

"Sorry." I smile. "How long have you been out here?" I ask.

"Since like…four thirty, I think." I raise my eyebrows and she shrugs before I can question her.

"I wanted to get an early start."

"Let's go riding!" Rye walks into the barn. "The horses are gone!" I'm just starting to stand up but Katniss stops me.

"They are _not_ gone." She says.

"Well why don't I see them then?" Rye asks. Kat whistles and after a few moments a ton of different horses start coming out from all different parts of the properties.

"How do I make them so they can ride?" Rye asks. She sighs and finishes the milk. The she dumps a bucket of boiling water in the snow and fills it with more snow and dumps it on the fire until it goes out.

"You are so clueless sometimes." She walks into the barn and teaches him how to let up the saddle and everything else. She sets them up for all the horses.

"Did you make this?" Johanna points to a mini tee-pee.

KATNISS'S POV

"Yes." I reply. Annie mounts her own horse, Jo gets on hers, Finnick gets on his, Peeta gets on his and everyone starts to get on others, all of them sharing.

Morgan stands there next to Noah and they just stare at us. Peeta takes both of them before I can even offer.

"Hey Kitty," Finnick says as I hop up on Coca. "I have a weird feeling." He says.

"Okay…" I trail off.

"You need to bring your bow and arrows." He says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Something just tells me you do."

"Yeah I kind of have that feeling." Peeta frowns. An uneasiness begins to settle over the group. A hunting sense that I gained from my father are in full throttle. I get off my horse and get my bow and arrows from the barn.

"Let's go slow." I say as I mount my horse and make her start walking. Everyone lets me lead.

The feeling of unease gets stronger and strong and it's starting to make me sick.

I stop right when I hear the rustling of leaves to my left.

Rye opens his mouth but I put my hand up to make him shut up. The horses start freaking out so bad that we're all forced to gets off of them.

"What?" Prim asks loudly. I put my finger to my lips more insistently and mouth '_shut up!' _at her.

A twig snaps and nobody hears it but me.

I wave everyone back when I hear the heavy padding of feet. I make them go a hundred feet back. Peeta doesn't look too happy to have me by myself. I move back a bit, maybe fifty feet.

The noises get louder and I know they can hear it now. I'm an idiot for not having my bow loaded, I realize.

"Katniss this is a horrible idea." Peeta whispers.

"Don't worry, she never misses." Mom assures him.

The noise of the creature stops, and then I hear a growl.

The growling of a black bear.

What the fuck? Shouldn't they be in hibernation? I suck in a sharp breath.

"What is this?" Morgan asks quietly.

It isn't too close, probably far enough away for us to hear but we shouldn't have to worry too much. I load my bow and ignore the frantic whispers of the family as I walk in the direction of the bear. I come into the clearing and I almost run right into the bear. It's much closer than I thought. I lock eyes with the bear and it charges me. I'm still in sight of the family.

Before it's hardly taken a step it's got an arrow in the eye.

"Shit!" Rye starts clapping.

"How the hell did that get in here?" I ask.

"I don't know." Peeta says. "Is it dead?" he asks.

"Shoot it again to be sure." Mrs. Mellark says. I shoot it in the heart and step over it. I whistle and my horse is the only one that comes, because clearly the rest are distraught. They normally only answer for their masters so earlier was a one-time thing.

"I don't understand how it got in here." I frown.

"Can we eat it?" Peeta asks.

"It's disgusting." I explain.

"I want a rug!" Johanna says excitedly.

"I'll skin it later." I reply. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere." I mount Coca and take off. I get a ton of rope from the barn and my knife. I manage to get the horses to follow me back. "You guys go to the lake. I'll meet you there." I say.

"Are you sure?" Peeta asks.

"Yes." I reply.

**I'M CLOSING VOTING NOW I KNOW I SAID I WOULD WAIT BUT IT'S CLOSING NOW. I****'ll post the winning story at the start of the next chapter. **


	24. Chapter 24

I'M PUTTING THIS ON PAUSE IT SUCKS BECAUSE I SUCK AT WRITING IT AND I NEED TO WRITE THE NEW STORY WHICH IS

YOU'RE MINE: 16 votes

NEW STORY: 3 votes


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